Not the Hero
by Reincarnated Poet
Summary: I've never been the hero, I never wanted to be. I've made my decisions based strictly on what my blood told me, which isn't always in my brain. Ipswich wasn't a mistake, or a screw up, but I'll let you decide what it was, because I'm too close to tell.
1. Not Gonna be the Hero

Reincarnated Poet: I haven't been able to actually finish a fan fiction piece in what feels like ages. This is my attempt at doing as such. It's a bit of a mosh bit of things, so I'm not sure where it's going to end up. Hopefully on the corner or decent and well written, but I'm not sure.

0 Prologue Not Going to Be the Hero

It's a Saturday. It's twelve noon. It's time to play.

You could call this a game. You could call it a sport. I call it war.

It's hard to play softball in Massachusetts. The weather isn't conducive, and games such as soccer and golf are more the order of the day. The air's cold most of the time. It's hard to breathe and muscles cramp easily, but this is what I do. It's who I am, and who I am is going to affect this story. There are a few things you need to know, if you're going to listen to my story and fully understand why I made the decisions I made. Then again, you could end up looking back, at the end and thinking that I was a sad lost little girl. Maybe I was, maybe I still am.

I pitch. I'm in charge of the team, and there are certain character traits that I inherently have as such. I'm a pusher. I'll give you everything I think I have in one moment, and in another I'll give you more. I didn't used to be the best at what I did, and as such I worked through it until I was. Because I did that, I expect others to do the same. I'm a fighter. I'd sooner put a good hitter on her ass than walk her, and I've been known to do just that a few times.

I just wanted you to know that, before I tell you my story, because, in this fairytale, I'm not the hero. I'm not dressed in a white linen dress waiting for my knight to come and rescue me. I make foolish decisions, but they're based on these facts. I used to watch movies with my father and think, "why did she do that?" Well I think I know now. No, I'm not the girl grabbing the chef's knife instead of the twenty-two, and I'm not the skinny blonde that panics and leaves her boy-toy to defend himself. But I need you to know that I'm not the heroine. I'm not Domino Harvey. I'm not Wonder Woman or Hawk Girl or even that chick in the Reign of Fire movie that flew the helicopter.

So now you know.

I grew up hard and I grew up fast, living in a small town in the middle of Illinois. The daughter of a jack of all trades with a bad back and a worse temper, I brought up my younger two siblings with as much care and dedication that I showed my softball glove. Okay, so the glove was oiled biweekly, but the kids always got their breakfast before school.

The community wasn't what you'd call a town or even a village. It was more of a place where a few people silently agreed to build houses off the side of Interstate 55, and our most promising attraction was the old water tower the mayor was too cheap to have torn down. Before it finally became too dangerous to let go, the thing leaned at almost a sixty degree angle.

But all of that doesn't really matter. You don't want to know that I wanted to become a novelist, or that I planned on pitching for Arizona State. You don't have to know any of that, because it didn't happen. What really happened was that I grew up, and as I grew up, my body stopped healing as fast as it used to. I took a line drive to my pitching hand and was supposed to be done for the rest of my life. My father, seeing a dream vanish into thin air did the only thing he felt he could do. He arrange for my education.

By education, I mean he called up a distant relative, or was it a friend? Anyway, he made a call or two, and pulling a few strings, found that he could squeeze me into a preparatory school in Massachusetts. The graduating classes always matriculated at least ten percent of the student body at Harvard, and Harvard was golden. I won't tell you how I felt about that, because growing up wanting to be a novelist I know that showing is better than telling, so I'll end my monologue here, and let you see the rest for yourself. Just keep in mind that I've never been the hero, and I hope never to be.


	2. Lady Air

Reincarnated Poet: I'm beginning work on this before I receive any reviews, which is something I do quite often, but I do want one or two, letting me know how they like the style so far, if anyone wants to let me know after this chapter or the next, after they get a feel for the writing style. It's something I've never really tried as a story before, so I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks guys!

Well, as it was, I received one review from my amazing reviewer writersword. Everybody out there reading this should go check out some of the stuff under that penname. It's some pretty amazing stuff! (Hope you don't mind the advertisement).

1 Lady Air

_Ipswich might be the biggest mistake of my life. Really, it might be. The town, to be fair, is larger than the last, but its so…so…was there a word for what this town was? Old. Antiqued. Shakespeare might have said, "Twas a little town of small charms and smaller action where civility reigned with an air of condescension." Or maybe he wouldn't have. Who am I to know? I've never sold anything, that's for sure._

_The road's rough, but welcome under my feet. The street lamps are all lit, bright and unerring, and moths flock to the glow like, well, moths. It's difficult to sound poetic in a place like this. _

I run the tip of my pen through the last couple of lines and let a low growl escape before I realize that I can't do that anymore. Lady Air says it's unbecoming, and one must listen to Lady Air. Her real name isn't Lady Air, of course, but I like it. I think it's fitting. My eyes wander up and catch the street lights.

"Well they really are flocking like moths." I whisper and push myself off of the wrought iron bench. "Makes sense enough." I tuck the black composition book under my armpit and tuck the pencil behind my ear. When I was younger, I used to keep a pencil there just because I thought it made for a stately image. Now, it's just the place it feels the most comfortable.

"Hey, come on man!" I sigh as a pair of boys fights over a set of keys. I'd thought the park would be empty this late, but apparently, on a summer night at three in the morning, someone else has a reason to sit amongst the foliage. My ears tune in, a habit from my days of people watching.

"We're late, just let me drive."

"No, my car, I want to drive."

It was an old argument, judging with the ease the second boy gave in. They disappeared into the dark, and I watched, waiting for them to reappear in the next pool of street light, but they never did. It wasn't something that was normal, but what in this town was? The woman I was living with was a prime example of that. Lady Air, or Lady Jerdin, as I was prevailed upon to call her when in her company, was an elderly woman, who had once traveled the world with her late husband. Their sitting room was a silent witness to the years they had spent on the African savannah.

Ivory hand carved into delicate figures sat on equally delicate tables. Pelts, well preserved and stretched littered the floor and the walls, and in the corner, stood her pride and joy: a cheetah, stuffed and posed as if it were leaping in a carnal rage at the viewer, completely uncharacteristic to its gentle and skittish nature.

On occasions, the woman called me into her study and attempted to regale me with tales of traveling with her dearly departed Gunther. The only time I've ever seen a photo of the man was when I'd gone snooping through the desk drawer of the man's old study. Lady Air had caught me. She said I was maliciously searching for something to pawn. I said I was looking for some clue as to who I was living with. Who am I to quibble over the details?

I let my mind wander away from the woman and her odd ways. Tonight is my last night of freedom, and I plan on spending the remainder of it in bed. Tomorrow I would be packed up and shipped out to this school. I spent some time there, earlier in the summer, and while the library is quite extensive, was quite boring. It's really not that far from the estate of Lady Air, but the promise of fewer encounters with the woman convinced me quickly to opt for a door room.

The door was locked, surprise surprise, but the window of my first floor room was as open and unlocked as when I'd left. Sometimes I wonder if the servants even knew when I left. If they did, to their credit, they kept their mouths shut. The black composition book found its home in my leather trunk, amongst my other things that hadn't already been packed up and moved along to my dorm room. I slipped my shoes off and faced the only thing I would miss in this sorry mansion: the bed.

It was glorious, four poster, and rose a good three and a half feet off the ground. Any higher, and I would have to take a running leap to make it on top. It would have been something out of a Martha Stewart catalogue had it not been for the bedding. The comforter was something that would follow me everywhere I went, and if my future husband didn't like it, he could sleep on the couch. It was hand made, something nostalgic and unique. All me jerseys from summer and school softball had been sewn together along with several tournament shirts and even a World Series tee shirt. It was my child, my baby, and it was perfect.

I plopped down, forgetting my jeans or the tee shirt I was wearing. Tomorrow would be a better time for that. Now, was sleep.


	3. Gold StuddedWhatever

Reincarnated Poet: As per my usual, the chapters are proving to be short lived, however, I am trying to keep up my fairly regular updates (at the bare minimum twice a week) because of this fact. I'd like some feedback on the characterization of my well…character. I realize I haven't given you much to go on appearance wise with her, but that's a bit of on purpose. I'm attempting to give you an image of the girl through her actions and judgment of the things around her. Aka, stating the bed was a good three and a half feet off the ground and if it were any taller she'd have to run and jump. Meaning she's not too tall. See? Oh well, maybe I'm out thinking myself. Anywhosit, if I have a review before I post this I'll do like I did last chapter and add it in after this. Thanks guys n gals!

Wow, what a reviewer turn out. I got three since I last looked. You guys rock! Specifically, cmunoz.22 and an anonymous reviewer. You two, and writersword rock my socks off! And, as a special treat, I'm staying up to pound out another chapter. Here goes.

2 Gold Studded Chocolate Covered Fruit…or Something

I was moving? Yes, I was moving, and oh god, that was the window. I crack me eyes open as the window meets the side of my face again. Catching a bit of drool with the back of my hand I freeze, and stare across the small expanse of the back seat at Lady Air. I couldn't help but smile and open my composition book with a grimace.

_I do believe that someone once told Lady Air that looks could kill and she believed them. I feel as though I've fallen into a void and landed in eighteenth century France. The only thing that keeps me from walking around curtsying and begging for a penny is Lady Air's chest. I'm fairly sure that those didn't exist two hundred years ago. _

"Really, Marietta, constantly feigning a writer's hand will, I assure you, not increase your prospects. It is very unseemly. A lady should not show such an interest in something so…singular." The woman sniffed at the air and focused her attention through the tinted window with a purse of her lips.

_And they didn't have Fire Engine Number Five either. Someone should tell her that the ability to wear lipstick that you put on with a pencil isn't attractive. I do believe her entire mouth disappeared there._

"Marietta." She warned without even feigning her attention.

_Nope there they are. Both lips firmly attached. _

"Yes, of course, thank you Lady Ai-" I caught myself and turned the mistake into a slight cough. "Jerdin. I am very thankful for your rebuff." With my composition book off limits for the next five minutes or so, I let a sigh. What was I to do with Lady Air in a car for longer than five minutes? Nails here I come.

"Marietta." I sighed, and puffed my cheeks up, squinting my eyes, waiting for the rebuff. "We do not chew our nails." I nodded more to myself than to her and let my hand drop. This morning I had drug ass for lack of a better expression, wanting to delay my arrival at the institution that Lady Air spoke so highly of. Now, well, what was the expression? Time flies when you're having fun. What does time do when you'd rather put your hand in a blender and hit frappe?

"Madame, we are approaching Spencer. Provost Higgins is currently waiting out front to escort you and Miss Marietta to his office. He has assured me that noon tea will be served then." Oh Benji! I leaned forward in my seat and wrapped my arms around the empty from seat and stared at the driver, who had spoken.

"I'm going to miss you Benji." I smiled when the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Benjamin, Miss Marietta." He reminded without even removing his eyes from the road. He was becoming infinitely less fun to talk to.

"Marietta." Jesus, was my name the new "the"?

"Yes?" I called before collapsing back into my seat and smoothing my skirt down.

"I expect you to represent me in an acceptable manner at this school. I would hope you would behave as if I were there with you, every step of the way." Lady Air took a breath, and I assume the conversation was over. "Now, Mariette, there will be young men at this school that, are not as gentlemanly as a young man should be." My eyes widened. Was it? Nah, couldn't be. "Some of them will, and I say this not with any particular gentleman in mind or to slander a name, make an attempt to sway you from your chosen path." It was! God no. Where was the door handle. Locked. The lock? Where was it? Screw it. I can climb through the window. "You must be strong, Marietta, and not allow yourself to be lead astray. You owe them nothing, and God is always watching." Oh lord, that's all a girl needs to be celibate. You could have sex, but there's this wrinkled old guy watching you undress. If you're a guy the only possible reaction is, "Yeah, honey, I just lost the ability." If you're a girl its, "Well, I've lived this long without penetration. In fact, I never have to orgasm again!"

What I actually said was, "Yes, Mrs. Jerdin."

Wow.

I mean Wow.

Come on, how is one supposed to deal with this?

"Madame Jerdin-" Oh thank god Benji! I'm sending you a Christmas card, and a basket of something. Chocolate? Fruit? Gold? Chocolate covered fruit studded with gold you say? Sure Benji no problem!

I didn't even hear what he'd said, and was a bit surprised when Lady Air's door was opened and she stepped out into the midday sun, only to disappear under a parasol. I would have writing material for years to come from this woman. I could almost cry. I started sliding across the seat, and stopped abruptly as the door was shut in my face. Okay, Benji, you just lost your chocolate studded gold fruit…wait…

My door opened from the other side and I slid back across and jumped out. "Marietta, we do not slide across seats and when exiting a vehicle both legs leave together as to not allow the free world a view of our undergarments." Oh god, undergarments, that was way too close to other things. "Come Marietta." She turned on her heal and walked on the arm of an elderly man up the stairs. I silently pondered the possibility of someone sitting on a bike as a child and the seat breaking completely off, leaving only the rod that held it. If Lady Air was a chubby child, maybe the force of gravity would have…oh never mind. It's impossible to ponder while running to keep up with the woman. How she manages to power walk in heels is beyond my reckoning, but I'm lucky to not fall up the stairs in the damnable things.

I made a game of how often Lady Air took a step slightly to the side to dislodge her oversized underwear. I'd gotten as far as six when they finally turned and stepped into an office. Chair! Oh Chair, would you like fruit studded gold chocolate? Oh, you have no mouth. Pity.

Benji pulled my chair out and I sat down, at this point, happy to not have all of my weight supported on a quarter inch thick piece of plastic. The older man was talking, but if he said anything that didn't have an underlying layer of either "Dear Lord in heaven please make her leave" or "please fall madly in love with me and turn over your millions" I missed it.

Did Lady Air have millions or was it just hundred thousands? Hm.

"Marietta?" Oh crap. Bottom of the sixth, runner on second, one out, look her back go one.

"Yes?" I focused on looking completely innocent, but was sure it came over as daft.

"How is Spencer to your liking?" Well, you see Gramps, I'm not one for people who fart gold dust, but I didn't see gum stuck in the door jam, so that's a plus.

"It's lovely, Sir." I really had to work on saving my mental answers until my verbal ones had been said and done. I looked slow having to do the mental one first.

"Of course it is." He paused and sent a smile at Lady Air. "I won't insult you by stating our rules of conduct. If you have any issues at all, Miss Marietta, I trust that you will come directly to me with them."

"That is quite accommodating of you, Sir." But I'm a big girl and can handle myself. Besides, if I did have an issue, I don't think you could act without first asking your most wealthy supporter how to engage the situation. There, I got my verbal banter and managed to answer in a timely fashion.

"Well then, I trust that you will be fine. Mrs. Jerdin and I are going to tea, I have arranged an escort for you, Marietta. He will show you about campus and to your room. If you have any lifting or moving that needs to be handled, I am sure he wouldn't mind." I glanced pointedly down at my shoulders. Did it look like I needed a lifter? The gesture was lost on him.

"I trust that this escort is a gentleman of notable family connections." Lady Air said as she rose. "I won't have a ward of mine corrupted, Mr. Higgins."

"Of course, the escort is of the Danvers line, Mrs. Jerdin, I trust you approve?" He waited. He was actually waiting for the all clear.

"Of course. I know his mother intimately, or at least I did before she fell ill. Poor thing." She sent me a glance that spoke volumes. For some reason, I don't think the previous conversation applied with this boy. "Where is the escort?"

"He should be here any-" A knock interrupted any further conversation. "Ah, Mr. Danvers." I tried to catch a glance of the boy, but the larger man's form blocked him from view. "I trust you will see to Miss Marietta's safety and will being while she is in your charge." He didn't wait for the answer or the introduction, he just kept walking with Lady Air on his arm. Benji sent me an encouraging glance before he too stepped out. Alright Benji, maybe a fruit basket, but you can forget the gold studded chocolate.

I waited in the office for a moment, just to make sure that they'd gone before stepping out. Wow, and I mean Wow. God, go ahead, I don't care anymore. If you're into that, go right ahead. Of course having my mental outburst left me standing silently as if I were a mute, but it was worth it.

"Miss Marietta." He nodded his head and gestured down the hall the opposite direction. "Did you-ah…" He paused and his eyes darted to the side and he tried to hide a smile. "Want to retire or are you still at your leisure to view the campus?"

Beduh?

What?

Leisure?

Retire?

Oh, he thought I was Lady Air. Ha!

"Of course, you're tired." He stared at me a moment and I realized that I'd had the mental reaction before the verbal…again.

"Umm…If you're looking for Madame Jerdin, you just missed her." I sucked my lips back against my teeth and looked down. My hands came out and pointed down the hall. "That-a-way." I smiled and he just stared at me. "O-kay." I trailed off for a moment and wondered if everyone here was as strict as my Lady Air.

"Oh, sorry." He shook his head and cracked a smile, the first of the evening. He scratched the back of his head. "I was expecting…"

"Me to have a stick shoved somewhere in the general direction of up my spinal chord?" Or more bluntly my ass, but that would be inappropriate.

"Something like that." As if remembering who he was he relaxed. "Sorry. It's just as a ward of Lady Jerdin, we expected-" We? Wait a second. Back up. Hit the throttle in reverse. We? Did he have multiple personalities? Did he think that there was a squirrel living in his brain? Was he searching for the President's wooden nickels?

"Excuse me…" I waited for him to pause. "Sorry to interrupt, but 'we'?" I scratched my arm uncomfortably at the blank look he gave me. "You did say we expected. If you are legion and we are many, just let me know and I'll step out and leave you to discuss business." Another blank look. Okay, I think I'll just-

He laughed.

O-kay.

About face.

Full retreat.

Run up the white flag friends, because we are out of here.

"No no no." He held up a hand. "My friends and I. They aren't here right now, just to clear that up." He smiled again and something in my brain decided that even if he was a bit coo coo for coco puffs, he was cute enough to make up for it.

"Okay, sorry about that. Just have to make sure you know?" I rubbed a finger under my nose, a nervous habit I'd picked up from watching too much BeyBlade in the mornings before school. Yes, it was immature nonsense, but at six a.m. who can stomach anything else?

"Yeah, well, did you want to see the rest of campus or head to your room?" He was relaxed now, and had stopped using first person plural so I figured it was pretty safe to see the rest of campus.

"Well, Mr. Danvers, I'd like to see the rest of campus." I studied him for a moment. "Do you prefer something other than Mr. Danvers? Because honestly, I'm not sure how long I can keep that up."

"Caleb." Was the one word response, to which my brain did a happy dance. Caleb. Good name. Nothing like Jeff or Donald. Sorry dad, but Don just isn't a come ravish me name.

He had moved down the hall a ways and had glanced back over his shoulder as if he wasn't quite sure if I was going to follow. I took half a step before my ankles reminded me of their stilted prison. I was halfway through a groan before I remembered that that particular noise was off limits but I decided that I didn't really care. Kicking off the shoes I looked up. "You don't mind do you? Lady Air practically glared me into those things." Another questioning look. Boy did this kid have the confused look pegged. Oh Lady Air. Silly me. "You call her Madame Jerdin." I amended and he smiled.

"Ah I see. No I don't mind. Sarah might have a spare pair of shoes if you want." Sarah? O-kay. Girlfriend. Sad face.

"Nah, I'm used to pain." I joked and we continued on our way.

_I do so wish I could say that our outing about campus was interesting or even that the conversation made up for the lack of excitement. Sometimes I wonder whether or not I should just lower my standards for places to live. Granted I've only ever lived two places but still. _

_Hands acting up again. Don't know why, but I think its going to rain. Wouldn't that be amazing. My wrist the weatherman. Well not that this isn't productive but…_

It's been an hour. One whole hour. I've only been by myself in this little room for sixty minutes, and already it's going to kill me. I can't do it. It's too much. Must. Escape. Oh, there's no lock on the door keeping me in. There's one to keep the creepers out, but hey, I can leave whenever I want to. This really isn't a prison. Dad was right! Silly me. Must remember to tell him so.


	4. Stupid

Reincarnated Poet: Hello my freaky darlings! Well I haven't seen the reviews yet, if there are any, but I plan to continue this odd method of authors note followed by review shout outs a bit later. Anyway, I hope you all liked the last chapter. I played in a bit more of her personality and physical appearance, if only a little. This chapter is going to be quite active. Should be interesting! Let's go folks!

Wow, three reviews for this chapter! You all legitimately rock my world. This chapter goes out to you three: cmunoz.22, X-Death-X-Lotus-x, and dstnd2travel. I'm glad you guys like the story and that the reaction to the bit of comedic relief in the last chapter was well received. We see a lot more of that in this chapter, and it starts a bit of the story in motion, but you don't really see it until later.

3 Stupid

The sun! Oh god it burns! God I love sarcasm. Is there a sun in Massachusetts? Has the government finally put a shield around the entire Earth? Are we going to have to trade shiny wrist watches for an hour or two of sunlight? Oh wait, those are just clouds. Pity, I have quite a few shiny wrist watches.

Spencer really wasn't that big of a deal. There was an administration building, a couple dorm buildings, and a few classroom buildings. Nothing I hadn't seen before. Wait. Haha. It was something I hadn't seen before. Thank you Corn Belt of America!

I went to the cafeteria and poked about for a bit before finally grabbing a burger and fries from the grill. I went to hand over a bill and the woman at the checkout just asked for my I.D. Card. I shook my head and gave it to her. "Do you have to be a student to eat here or something?" I asked. Of course they'd want proof of attendance.

"No dear, but you have a meal plan on your I.D. Card, I need to scan it to register your purchase." I.D. Meal Plan? O-kay. I could deal with that. It meant not having to carry around a ton of cash. Score one for the rich kid school.

The cafeteria was fairly empty accept for a group of students over in the corner. Now the real question. To mingle or not to mingle. Well, that boy was fairly attractive, but that girl was fairly territorial. I went with a safe bet of sitting a table down and immersed myself in my fries. I was contemplating the finer points of fry cutting when someone pulled the chair out across from me.

Oh. It was legion. "Hey." He spoke and I almost forgot how cute he was when he smiled.

"Hiya." I chomped a fry quickly, trying to chew in a manner that appeared both controlled and mannerly. He might not be like Lady Air, but he might not like a girl who eats like a boy.

"So, just to further back up my sanity." He gestured over his shoulder. "That's 'we'." I glanced and waved when I found several of them were watching me.

"Well let's make good and sure." I smiled a bit. "Hey, this guy actually does know you right?" They looked confused for a moment before a blonde boy called back.

"Never seen him in my life."

Wait.

Stop.

Hold the phone.

Never?

"Reid!" Caleb yelled and the boy laughed.

"Caleb, come on man, we're gonna be late." Another called and I relaxed. People. People joke. Ha. It was kind of funny.

"Yeah, alright, I'm coming." He called back and smiled. "I'd invite you along, but-"

"Get out of here, Mr. Danvers. I am the new kid, and as such I get a complimentary no one can make me do things grace period." He smiled and left.

"See you later." He called over his shoulder and stopped. "Do you really go by Marietta?" His head was cocked to the side as if the name left a bad taste in his mouth. It should, and I should also kill my parents. Note to self: kill dad.

"My friends used to call me Zee." I said. "But you can call me Elizabeth if you want." He smiled and turned back around.

"See ya around Zee." And he was gone.

It didn't take long for me to find my way to the softball complex, if you could call it that. Really it was an old cow pasture that they'd fenced in and poured crushed limestone over to make an infield, and it wasn't empty.

Hm. One girl. Can't be doing much. Oh lord. She'd got a bucket…and a glove…and a crap ton of balls. And she's going to the pitcher's mound.

Crap.

I leaned a ways down the fence, just acting like I was waiting for someone at first. Hearing the ball clang against the backstop a few times I couldn't resist turning around and leaning against the low fence. Several balls later I was walking down the fence line, hell bent for limestone.

"Hey." She called over, and for a moment I wondered if she really was a pitcher. Her face was lit with a huge smile, and I wondered how she could smile with the performance she was putting out.

"Hey." I replied. Maybe I was a perfectionist, maybe I was a bit of an anal retentive, but the only thing in the world I'm like that about is softball. "You the school's pitcher?" I asked, leaning against the fence again, hanging my head slightly when she smiled wider.

"Yeah, I'm out here getting a workout in. We're going to kick butt this year." I smiled and tried not to laugh but it came out anyway. "What?"

"Sweetheart, how long have you been pitching?" I tried not to sound condescending, I really did. I swear.

"About five years now." My jaw dropped. Five? Years?

"You have any…instruction?" No.

"Oh, I'm just…teaching myself you know? I'm getting the hang of it." She stared at me oddly when I jumped the fence. I was briefly grateful I'd traded my skirt in for jeans. "Uh, is something wrong?" She asked, running the glove over her side.

"Yeah." I nodded my head, eyes wide. "Throw a fastball." I stood to the side and watched her. "Alright, get back on here and finish with your wrist, up like this. Let the ball snap off your fingers." She looked at me oddly and I felt my head slip to the side.

"Oh kay." She tried to do what I told her but it seemed to slip completely past her reign of thought.

"Like this." I picked a ball up off the ground. Wow. Did that feel good, or did that feel good? I let me fingers wrap about the laces and rolled my wrist experimentally. Wow. I flipped the ball up, over my fingers and put spin on it. I winced as I caught the ball in the same hand. Okay, maybe that was a bad idea, but… "Like that. See how the ball spins tightly? The tighter the spin the more movement you can get on the ball, and the faster you'll be able to throw. It'll also help you with your control." I handed her the ball back and she tried again. The ball sailed to the backstop, and I swear I could count the number of revolutions on one hand.

Okay maybe two.

"Wow." Oh, crap. Did I say that out loud?

"Good?" She asked and I just shook my head. "No?" Oh no. Not that look. She was going to cry, or at least look dejected.

"But better." I didn't lie exactly. Well…maybe I did…I didn't exactly count revolutions before so maybe she got an extra one in there. I tested the ball off my wrist again and pulled my arm over my head. "I pitch…well I used to pitch. I can show you what you're competition will be looking like, if you want."

"Sure, that'd be great! I'd like to see what other pitchers are doing." I nodded my head. Of course.

"Have you ever played or watched any travel ball before?" The blank look. Not the blank look. Yeah it was the blank look. "Okay, just step over there." I strattled the mound and looked down. "Can I borrow your glove? I need it for timing." She handed the thing over and I was surprised she could even close it. The leather hadn't been loosened and the webbing was dry.

I wish I could say it didn't hurt when the glove slapped into my thigh. I wish I could say it didn't hurt when I snapped my wrist or when I finished. I wish I could say I hadn't lost some of my speed.

What I can say is that the girl's mouth dropped and the ball would have been a strike at about sixty. It wasn't the sixty-four, sixty-five I'd been throwing, but it wasn't fifty-five either. "See?" I asked her. "See the snap." I held my hand down at my back hip. "Right here?" She nodded but I could tell she didn't see. "Alright, just…just work on that huh?" I walked over and jumped the fence before realizing I had her glove. "Oh, here." I tossed it back with my left hand, not wanting to push the right, and left as quickly as possible.

Stupid.

I was in the dorm building.

Stupid.

I was on my floor.

Stupid.

I was in my room.

Stupid.

I was on my bed, rummaging through my trunk for my glove and cleats.

Stupid.

I eyed them for a moment and shook my head. They fell back into the trunk and I kicked it away angrily.

Stupid.


	5. Mr Darcy

Reincarnated Poet: Hello my freaky darlings! Well guys, this chapter is kind of rushed so I can't promise any real length to it like the last couple times. I'm currently peeling wall paper off of my kitchen walls. What I'm finding underneath…not something that sentient beings with opposable thumbs created. I'm thinking raccoons or possible an opossum. Also I think a mouse tried to level the floor. Anywho…

For my lovely reviewers: yankeebecky, ShortTee25331, cmunoz.22, and dstnd2travel. You guys are amazing! I hope you like this chapter. It's taken a bit longer than normal to write this, I'm not sure why. It might be because of all the house work. _

4 Mr. Darcy

It's seven p.m.

They're staring at me.

I swear to god if they don't stop I'm going to drop kick them out the window.

They know I can't hang out with them anymore. They know.

And yet here they sit.

How am I supposed to resist the charms of Nikes with gaping wholes ripped in the sides and a glove that's worn so well that it lies flat on its own? It is impossible.

It's twelve.

I think the street light outside is in cahoots with them.

It's casting this gorgeous sheen off the glove, like its sweating.

Let me ask you this: Can a shoe wink?

It's six a.m.

I have my first day of classes in two hours.

The terrorism has moved from visual to odor warfare.

The glove smells like leather and sweat.

The shoes smell like…well…let's not start with that.

I've given up.

They win this battle.

My roommate never returned to the room last night, and if she did, it was between bouts of warfare when my troupes were gathering the dead. Now, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to like her. She'd returned at about seven o'clock when I was about to get into the backroom and make the mess of hair cooperate, ranting about how great a night it had been and that she really had to freshen up.

_Fought a war last night against my own stubborn willpower. I lost…and won. If that makes any sense. Now, I've already lost a war that I didn't even know was going to happen. It was like in those old movies when the innocent townsfolk are in bed and the guerrilla forces take them in the dead of night. Accept its morning. Oh, my armpits can't smell that bad. Deodorant here I come!_

Why did I think I'd only need about ten minutes to find my first class? The doors shut and locked. The professor is droning on and on and the students who might see me waving frantically to be let in are actually paying attention. Here goes.

Knock.

Well that was easy enough. Oh. Oh no. He heard me. Run! Don't run, it'll make you look guilty.

"Can I help you?" Crap. He was here already. Why yes, yes you can help me, by letting me into your boring as hell class on basic biology.

"Yes, I'm so sorry, but I am new to the school and-"

"Of course, Miss Thompson, please come in and take a seat to your liking. How is Mrs. Jerdin?" Not another one.

"She's quite well." Actually she needs to see a doctor about removing that bug.

"I don't suppose she mentioned me?" His face flushed slightly. Oh. This could be fun.

"Of course she mentioned you, sir." I smile at him and wink. There's the beat red that I'd been waiting for. Is it tacky to pat yourself on the back? Nah.

"R-really?" He paused and cleared his throat. "Well, there are your books and there is your seat. He gestured toward a seat about halfway back. A foot was propped up on the table in front of it as the boy who belonged to it sprawled over three chairs, head tossed back in sleep. I dropped my head. Great.

"Mr. Parry, please wake Mr. Garwin, and do it in a…interesting manner, we all so enjoy his out bursts." A snicker was taken up throughout the room as the boy next to him slapped him upside the head.

"Hmn mitosis." He sat upright, barking out an answer to an unasked question.

"M-hm. Nice try, Mr. Garwin, but that was last week. We're discussing the endosymbiotic theory right now." He made a shooing motion in my direction as if I were a fly. I took the seat that had been vacated by the boy's feet and glanced over. It was the blonde from yesterday.

"Hey there, Caleb's friend." Came the response to my glance. "If you need anything, anything at all, just tell ol' Reid. He'll get it for you." He winked. Oh. I couldn't wait to run back to Lady Air and tell her I'd met one of the boys she'd warned me about. Too bad he wasn't as cute as he thought he was.

"Actually." I drawled slightly, in an attempt to lure him in.

"Yes?" Boy was he eager.

"I am needing some help with something, and I think a boy like you…" I looked him up and down and frowned. "Or maybe your friend there would be better." The other boy's eyes widened, and Reid stiffened.

"Like I said, you need anything…" He trailed off and he turned to send a look at his friend. I took the opportunity to smile and wink and he started laughing.

"Anything?" I played along.

"Anything."

"Anything I could want in the whole world." I glanced up and down, taking stock of the boy. He wasn't ugly.

"Anything your little mind could come up with." Little? Little? Oh that's it.

"Good." I sat up straight and handed him a sheet of paper and a pen. "I need a list of the players, preferably the starters, for the Spencer softball team as well as their positions, their year in school, and if possible, oh great one, their room numbers." His jaw dropped. Full stare at my tonsils action.

Should I? Yes. Could I? Yes.

I reached out and pushed his chin up to meet the rest of his face. "Get on that, gold fish." I turned to pay attention to the class but a loud guffaw from behind him had me turning. Oh, it was the Greek God of the school. Must remember not to drool all over my notes. How had I missed him? How does one walk up a flight of stairs toward the Adonis among men, the Achilles with no heel?

"Nicely done." He mused quietly. I smiled. Come on, you'd smile too. You would. You might think you wouldn't, but you would.

"Thank you, Legion." He tilted his head sideways. "Really? Boy do you need to read up on your demonology." He frowned slightly. "O-kay, I've moved to the place where talking about demons might get you stoned." I nodded slightly.

"What's it from?" A boy next to him asked. Oh. Oh my. Really? I'd missed two of them? How?

"Uh, well, lots of things. The New Testament originally." He frowned slightly.

"Really?" He asked and I nodded. Boy oh boy, when he frowned like that.

"Of course, Mr. Darcy, would I lie to you?" Reid laughed next to me. "You get the Pride and Prejudice reference, but the Bible, Ghost Rider, Spawn reference is lost on you?" I rolled my eyes and faced the front of the room again.

I attempted to take notes. I really did. But the list of names on goldfish's piece of paper was fairly short, and he'd enlisted the help of the other three boys. Finally I turned toward them.

"That's it?" I asked, gesturing down toward a set of eight names. "Eight girls? Almost all sophomores, two seniors? And why am I surprised you know all the room numbers?" I sighed and took the list.

"That's it." Reid sighed. "Why do you want to know?" He asked and I held up a finger.

"I play." I said simply and returned my attention to the list.

"Where?" Someone else asked and I sighed, setting the list down.

"Well, it seems you have the position in spades." I looked down the page and counted the names that Reid had put a P by. One, two, three, four, five…Five? No, wait, six. Six? Six of eight? "So, who actually pitched and who played the field?"

"I think they took turns." I looked back to Mr. Darcy.

"They. Took. Turns." I chewed the words in my head. "No. You can't be serious." He was, apparently. "O-kay. So who on this list is athletic?" I waited for an answer. Had I sat there all day, I would still be waiting for an answer.

"Well?" I asked again.

"I think Sarah and Kate are going out this year, right Caleb?" Oh, thank you other boy I haven't nicknamed yet! Thank you…Sarah. Sarah as in the girlfriend of my Legion?

"Sarah and Kate are?" I asked, waiting, still staring down at the list.

"Sarah's Caleb's girlfriend, Kate's mine." I glanced down the ways and sighed mentally. Why must the pretty ones be taken?

"Can they play?" I asked.

"Sure?" Caleb all but asked. I glanced over my shoulder.

"Have they played before?"

"Well no, but-"

"Enough said." I paused again and took a deep breath and crumpled the paper up, tossing it to the floor.

"Hey!" Reid yelled, fetching the paper quickly. "I took all class period to make this." He accused. I bit my lip.

"Sorry, you did, but you did say that if I needed anything to ask you. I needed that list, now I don't." I took a deep breath. This was not going to be fun. "Anybody know where the coach's office is?" I let my head collide with the front of the table before shooting up. One mustn't make a fool of one's self in front of adorable man candy.

"Yeah, I'm heading that way to talk to the swim coach." My head whipped around. "You could come with me, if you have a free period." I gave him a wry look. Free period? Who needs a free period? I can have the coach writing me a pass inside of ten minutes, and who am I to turn down a private escort from Mr. Darcy himself? No one, that's who.

"Alright." The bell sounded and I did a mini dance of pride. Not only did I manage to talk to four semi adorable males, but I also managed to talk about softball while ignoring boring teacher. Go me. I fled the classroom and waited outside the door. And waited. And waited. And-

Oops there he went.

Silence.

Utter, unfettered silence.

Who doesn't talk with the person they're walking with?

Who completely ignores a lady?

Evidently, this cheap Mr. Darcy cop-off, that's who.

"So…" I started, but was met with silence. "O-kay then." I told myself and continued walking. "So, I'm Zee." I offered.

"Tyler." Was the monosyllabic reply.

"You know, Tyler, that the Mr. Darcy comment was a joke. You can speak in more than single words." Nothing. "Well, alright then." He walked strait into an office, the coach sat up and grabbed Tyler's hand, shaking it firmly. He eyed me then.

"Can I help you, young lady?" He asked and I slipped into athlete mode.

"Yes sir, I'm looking for the women's softball coach, Tyler was supposed to point me in the right direction, but refusing to speak to me was a poor was to do it." The coach cuffed the boy in the back of the head and lead me out.

"Sure, sure." He said as we left. "Just go down that way. Last door on your right. Mr. Anderson should still be around, but I can't promise you anything." I nodded and left.

To knock and show respect or to just go in and show initiative…

The old knock accompanied by a nose already in the door. That should work well. I knocked once and took in his appearance. He was leaning against the desk, one hand propped up under his chin. "Mr. Anderson." I said, trying to capture his attention. God was he old. Seventy at least. "Mr. Anderson." Was that a snort? "Coach Anderson!" Oops.

His head hit the desk and he blinked away the sleep in his eyes. "Yes!" He yelled, catching the site of me sitting in the doorway. Wow. He looked even older awake. This, this would be an interesting year.


	6. Ares

Reincarnated Poet: Hello my freaky darlings! Hey guys. Well I really didn't have much of a start on this chapter until this morning but I'm fairly certain I'll have it up by later tonight. I hope you like this so far. Things are going to start really moving here pretty soon, plot wise.

My goodness you people are simply amazing. Dstnd2travel, ShorTee25331, an anonymous guest, ShadowPheonix17, and cmunox.22 were my reviewers for the last chapter, and I am simply amazed by the reactions to the story. You five are amazing!

5 Ares

I saw this boy today, amongst the other students. It would have been easy to look right through him like the others were, but something about him stopped me from doing just that. He was so…confident. In his walk, in his speech, in his every movement that it shocked me to my core. Not cocky, I'd seen people so overly cocky that they looked the same way, but this boy was different. Confidence, sheer undeterred confidence.

No one else seemed to notice it, but I did, probably because I, in hind site, notice everything that even has a connection to trouble. This boy, well, he was at least trouble's long lost lover if not the famed one himself.

_Have you ever looked into the eyes of a devil and saw the soul inside of it? I think that's what I did today. It was a sad soul, heavy with the weight of its sins, but unable to stop the demon from making it even heavier. _

_It's been a week since I came to this school, and I wish I could say that I was correct in my assumptions that this place was going to be horrible. I haven't really made friends, probably because I'm chasing down boys with heavy souls in their eyes, but I don't really care. He's so…confident and confused and scared that it seems like he's lost. I haven't seen him again since that day. _

_I'll tell you who I have seen though, those four. They seem to be together all the time, and at first I wondered if maybe they all had a thing going on and that Sarah and Kate were codenames. That had gone over well when I asked them in the single class we shared. _

"Hey Marietta." I shuttered. Why? Seriously, why? I told them what I'd prefer to be called. Legion and Goldfish seemed happy enough to call me by my chosen pseudonym, but Mr. Darcy?—no not Mr. Darcy.

"Hello," I droned back as Reid took up his seat along with Caleb and Pogue. I really had to stop calling them by their nicknames in my head. It was Reid I asked because it was Reid I talked to the most. "Hey, Goldfish." He turned and attempted to be annoyed, but it failed quickly. A smile spread over his face and I was reminded of how devilishly handsome he could be when he wasn't attempting to be as such.

"Yeah, Zee?" He asked, looking over my arm to the list I was compiling. Mr. Anderson had been kind enough to supply me with the actual team roster. I was halfway down the thing, trying to find someone who could actually play.

"You would tell a girl, right, if you and your friends were, how shall we say this…swimming against the current?" I waited but the blank look I received told me maybe he hadn't heard that one. "Riding the reverse rainbow?" I tried again, nothing. "Switch hitting?" Nothing. Okay, everybody knows that one. "Gay?" I finally tried and his face turned a shade of pink that I didn't think was possible on a human being.

He didn't talk to me at first, in fact, his first words were to Caleb.

"God damn it, Caleb, you insist we all stick together and now we have people wondering if we're gay! Well not anymore, damn it." He turned back to me and I got my answer as he stood up, ignored the teacher's protests, and proceeded to kiss every available girl in the area, barring myself of course. I watched with a rapt attention. He received detention for the week as he plopped back down into the chair with a smug smirk on his face.

"Okay, not switch hitting then." I concluded and went back to my list. Pogue leaned over behind Reid and tapped my shoulder. Thinking he was only going to poke fun at my assessment I ignored it until the poking started to become painful. "What?" I snapped and leaned to meet him halfway so he didn't have to lay on Reid to be heard.

"Kate and Sarah want to get together and play some softball." He handed me a piece of paper and I righted myself, thinking the conversation over. Another tap proved me wrong. "Come to Nikki's tonight to get to know them first. They want to meet you.

Wait.

Hold the phone.

Can you hear old Betsy callin'?

I'd never been invited into their out of class lives. They were always with the, "Well, we'll see you tomorrow, Zee." Which was a blatant, "We don't want you to hang out with us outside of classes." I glanced at Reid who smiled and nodded, obviously over being forced to briefly entertain the idea of being gay. Caleb wasn't paying attention but I figured he wouldn't mind. Caleb didn't seem to mind anything I did. I could jump off of Mount Rushmore, and as long as I didn't take Reid or Pogue with me, he would have been okay with it. Mind you, I don't mean to say he doesn't care at all, but well, he just doesn't really care.

Tyler, or Mr. Darcy, as I call him when he's being an ass, like he is today, was oddly paying attention to the conversation. He sent a mild glare at the back of Pogue's head and shook his own. What was his problem? Diaper rash? Note to self: Check and make sure Tyler's mommy uses baby powder.

"Alright." I agreed half heartedly, seeing the invitation from only half the group. Pogue nodded and sat back up. Oh good, I was starting to get a cramp leaning like this. The bell soon rang and I was free from my final class of the day. Tonight, I would make my way to the illusive Nikki's and proceed to meet Sarah and Kate. At least I would know they weren't a cover anymore.

It was difficult, getting to the joint called Nikki's that they failed to tell me was a bar, but I managed it. Mind you it was only after I'd removed my shoes as Goldfish insisted I wear something other than my tennis shoes. As it was, I walked up to the establishment at about ten, almost an hour late.

"Well, well, look who's the late one this time." I almost turned around right then and left. Almost. I had softball players to meet. I took a deep breath and took the ridicule with a grain of salt. It was Reid, I said almost the same thing every day during class.

"Excuse me for being late, Goldfish. You're the one who told me it was five minutes to the north of town." Reid's head fell to the side as I glared at him. "This is south, Reid, south." I slapped him over the head with the heel in my left hand while I was putting the right one on.

"So, it still doesn't constitute being an hour late." Oh, hello, Mr. Darcy.

"Well, it did take about ten minutes to walk here after I did find the correct direction." I snipped and decided that I wasn't so fond of the joking from Tyler.

"Walk?" A female voice asked and I turned around to face a blonde and a brunette, both confused and angry.

Oh hell.

Do people not walk here?

Is it like the olden days when a girl alone was trouble?

"Yes?" I all but asked and both girls stormed off. I watched them go for a moment until I saw their target. Caleb and Pogue were leaning against a foosball table, lazily hitting the ball back and forth. I was it coming from a mile away. I could have warned them. I could have called out and saved them from the pain and agony. But I didn't, I didn't.

"You let her walk?" _Thwap! _ The brunette's hand came down hard on the back of Pogue's head and the blonde's on Caleb's. I winced for them and picked my way over as the pair sat down at a table nearby. They resumed their game as I approached and leaned against the side.

"Sorry." I mumbled and watched the ball go back and forth.

"Nah, they would have found a reason sooner or later." Caleb smiled and I was left temporarily at a loss for words. "You should have said something."

Beduh?

Wha?

Damn it, I can't even think coherently when he's looking at me like that.

"Huh?" Hey, that was articulate…okay so maybe it wasn't, but it was a whole word and it fit my feelings.

"You didn't have a car." He supplied and I shrugged.

"Not a big deal." His eyes were back on the game and I was again free to form thoughts. "It wasn't bad after I figured out when Reid says north he means south." Pogue looked up and laughed.

"You trusted Reid to give you directions?"

Well, no, Pogue, actually I asked this dead squirrel on the side of the road, and it just so happened that its shriveled broken hand was pointed north.

"Yes, he has lived here all of his life." I liked my mental answer better.

"Did you know that you take an awful long time to decide what you're going to say?" Oh, great, Mr. Darcy decided to come and play.

"Well you see, I was going to say something sarcastic and biting, but I decided that maybe that wasn't for the best." I smiled wide, but the ruse dropped quickly. "What I had planned on saying was, 'Well no, Pogue, actually I asked this dead squirrel on the side of the road, and it just so happened that its shriveled broken hand was pointed north.' But I thought that might not be appropriate." I smiled again and walked toward the table the two girls had sat at.

"Hey," the blond called and I nodded my hello.

"Legion and Pogue tell me that you two are gonna be playing ball this year." They both nodded with a smile. "Ever play before." Their smiles faltered a bit and I frowned.

"No, but we should be alright." Kate said, taking a drink of her water.

"Ahuh." They would be alright? Alright? Did they even know how long real players trained to attain even an acceptable level of play? "Well, I'm going to be on the field tomorrow at eight. It's Saturday so I figured I'd run some drills, probably some form practice off a tee and then set the machine up to toss infield flies." They both nodded. "You gonna stop by?"

Silence.

Did they really want to talk softball?

Did they even know where the field was?

Was I speaking Cantonese?

"Huh?"

Oh good, it was just Cantonese.

"I am going to be at the softball field tomorrow at eight to practice. If you want, we could work together." I adopted short words that were used in other walks of life other than softball, hoping that it would sink in.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Kate agreed and I nodded my head.

"Alright, with business taken care of, I bid you adieu. Tell Reid, Pogue and Caleb I said bye."

"Aw, no goodbye for Tyler?" Sarah joked as if I'd forgotten. I blinked once.

"No, no goodbye for Mr. Darcy." I confirmed and headed toward the door. I was out it and heading toward the dark road when I saw him again.

He was alone, as he was before, only now he was leaning against a street light, looking directly back at me. He'd lost the look of confusion and seemed to have become even more confident in his movements as he pushed away from the post and stood. The light flickered over head and it drew both of our attention for a moment. He only smiled and walked along the road in my direction.

His smile widened as we neared each other. "I've seen you around the campus." He said as we were about to walk past each other. I turned and looked him up and down. He looked like he could give Legion a run for his money in the Adonis department, but as his smile went stale and became more forced I saw the difference. If Caleb was Adonis, this boy was Ares.

"I attend Spencer." I said and kept walking. He was no where near as enthralling up close as he was from a distance.

"I used to, you know." He called and I turned. He looked confused again, and it made the demon flee his eyes.

"Graduate?" I asked, walking backwards. Hey, come on, he's adorable.

"No." He smiled and fell in step with me, walking backward.

Okay…well, it is kind of cute.

"Kicked out?" I asked. This was kind of fun.

"In a sense." He looked over his shoulder and smiled. It hid the confusion for a moment and he scared me again, but it was quickly replaced.

"Ahuh." I missed a step and nearly ended up on my bum.

Owww.

Oh crap.

Did I just…yepp ballerina moment in front of the possibly dangerous adorable boy.

"Why don't you turn around?" There was laughter there, in his voice, and I ignored it as I spun on my heel and walked the correct way. He, on the other hand, kept up the backwards motion. "You're friends with Caleb and company." It was a statement, not a question.

"No." I replied. I wouldn't call us all friends. Acquaintances that happen to have common interests in people. "Well, I suppose Legion and I are friends. Goldfish too." He'd stopped moving.

"Legion? Goldfish?" He asked with a smirk and I smiled.

"Caleb and Reid." I amended and he kept walking.

"Poor Pogo and Baby Boy don't make your friends list? Aww." Huh? That was mocking. Cold even.

"Tyler's an ass." I replied and kept walking. He didn't follow. From behind me I heard a murmured "Well, huh." The high walls of Spencer were coming into view and the erratic hum of an engine was coming down the road. From the noise it was accelerating, and fast. I stepped off the side of the road and turned about a bit to watch it pass. The boy was twenty feet or so down the road still, watching as intently as I.

Was the car stopping?

It was stopping.

Huh.

Huh?

Mr. Darcy?

"Zee, get in the car." The door opened before the vehicle was even stopped, and he let it slide sideways to block my view of my Ares. He reached for my arm and tugged gently.

Excuse me?

I do not follow orders from an asshole, even a cute asshole. Damn, Mr. Darcy is not adorable…cute. I don't know where adorable came from. Damn.

"I don't think so." I pulled away and resumed my walk. Jesus did he not know how to take a hint?

"Zee, come on." Pull, pull, pull.

God Almighty, one more pull and I'm hitting him. I swear to all that is holy one more—pull.

Sorry Mr. Darcy. I spun on my heel and brought my hand up to connect with his jaw. To his credit he took the hit well. If hadn't been for Ares' laugh and his approach I think the punch might have done its job better, but Tyler seemed more distracted by the boy's proximity. "Get in the car, Marietta."

Oh hell no.

"Better go, Marietta." The other boy supplied. "I think he's angry." He was laughing. "I'll see you around campus maybe." I cocked my head to the side just in time to see his smile. "That is, if you want to."

Oooh.

If I want to.

_If _I want to.

You know what Mr. Ares, I like you. You are intelligent.

"I'll walk." I told Tyler, who seemed even more angry. I thought I heard a murmured, "Sorry," but I couldn't be sure.

Oww. Jesus Mary Joseph Oww.

Oh…oww.

O.

.


	7. Death Goes To Ding Dong Ditch

Reincarnated Poet: Hello my freaky darlings! This is the chapter, the action spot, the get the ball really rolling piece of literature. Well, semi-literature, I'm not sure if you could call anything I write by that title. Anywho, off to the race!

6

Owwy.

"What was I supposed to do with her? Let her walk off with Chase's revenant?" Was that Mr. Darcy? Oh, no, hurts to move, must stay put. "She was walking down the side of the road, talking to the ghost of the guy you killed, Caleb, take some responsibility here!" Wow, he sounded angry.

"You're the one, Tyler, you're the one who said no." Said no to what? Ow, must not think. "You brought her here, kind of shoots that in the ass, doesn't it?" Here? Here where? Here as in a hospital or infirmary here, or here as in the place where the serial killer…killed? The guy he killed?

Hold on a second.

Rewind.

Watch the little scene whining backward and…STOP!

I was talking to the ghost of the guy Caleb killed?

Ghost?

Killed?

Oh Jesus, if my eyes were open to see the room it would be spinning.

Maybe I could open my eyes, just to be sure?

Oh my head, oh my head. Oh. Oh. Oh Lord on High I swear if you just make the room stop spinning I'll…I'll…Oh my head.

"Zee?" Oh, no Reid, no coherent thoughts yet please. "Zee?" Oh he was persistent. Who said that was a good quality in a man? "Zee, come on, wake up sweety." Sweety? Oh hell no.

"Oh, God." I laid back down quickly. Perhaps attempting to hit him wasn't such a good idea. "Don't make me hit you yet, Goldfish, I don't think I can." Damn, Pogue, why do you have to laugh so loudly? "Mmn, Pogue?" I waited a moment, to make sure he heard me. "Quit laughing at Goldfish, my head hurt-" Wait a minute…why did my head hurt? The only person close enough to…Mr. Darcy. I shot up, ignoring the feeling that could have possibly been my brain leaking out my ears. "Bring him to me, I don't have the ability to walk, and I have to throttle him! Bring him here, now!" No one moved. Oh come on boys, your smart enough. "Screw it." I hoped to my feet and watched the wooden floor sway.

"Oooh, hey, did you know if you look at the floor like this and move in a circle like this that it-" Oh no. "Never mind, never mind. Tyler, where is Tyler? I have to kill him."

"Just sit down, Marietta." Bingo. Behind me? How did that happen? No matter…

"Ouch, Jesus Christ! Marietta, what the hell?" I hit my knees and was leaning very heavily on my arms.

"Oh, shut the hell up, you give Mr. Darcy a bad name. At least he doesn't bash anyone's head in." I sat down Indian style, hoping it would stop the world from spinning. I looked up to where the whining was coming from. "You're…" Oh lord coherency slipping. "You're…" Was that a bug? "Reid?"

He crouched down and placed a hand on my shoulder. Why was he making me move in circles? Oh…wait…that was me. "Yeah, Zee-Zee?" Aww, how cute, I have a nickname of my nickname…Ha…Owww.

"Why does Mr. Darcy hate me so much, Goldfish?" He looked at me for a moment and then looked up at Tyler.

"He doesn't hate you Zee." Was all he said. I think he should have said more…I just didn't hear it.

~R.P.~

Mmm…soft and warm…so soft…and squishy. Hmmm…what was that soft and squishy while still being firm enough to be this comfy? A pillow? No, pillows aren't warm… Oh Jesus H. Christ!

"Easy Zee." Oh, it was just Goldfish. Oh good, he's my pillow… Holy shit. I sat back up and was surprised to find that my head wasn't spinning and that my brain wasn't leaking out my ears.

"Sorry." I mumbled. Why did my tongue feel thick? "Sorry." I stood up and for the first time caught a good look of exactly where "here" was.

I am going to die.

There's no question, no way to back step out of this.

I'm going to die in the basement of some weird candle owner.

"When you kill me," Reid's eyes got bigger and he got up off the floor. "Please don't partially sever my head. I'd like a good clean cut, so if there is an afterlife, I can use it as a bolo." His head fell to the side as if he were trying to figure out whether I was serious or not. "I'm dead serious." I supplied.

Wait a second…where was Pogue and Legion and…nope I'm not curious as to where the kidnapper went. Not one bit. Nope. Damn.

"Easy, huh, Zee?" He laughed a bit. Oh, good, this was going to be one of those murders. Lull the poor thing into a false sense of security and then only partially decapitate her. I can see it now. No open casket funeral for me, no sir.

"Okay, dude, it's cool and all that you have a basement full of candles, but seriously, if you're going to kill me, just get it over with. I'm not a screamer. I'm not a runner. Actually…I'm not much of anything, well, barring you don't give me a gun and a bullet…or maybe two…I might need two."

Oh. Good. He was laughing again.

What's a girl got to do to get a sane murderer around here?

"Reid, she awake yet?" Was that…oh goodie. My knight in shining buckskin had come charging down the stairs…I wonder what he'd look like is buckskin…mmm…

"Tyler." I nodded in his direction, remembering the lump he'd given me. "I didn't get the chance to properly strangle you, but seeing as though I'm about to die, that doesn't really matter. I would like to tell you, you're quite the ass, and can take a punch, but the latter's more of a compliment than I really want to give you right now."

"Uh, Reid, maybe you should talk to her and then come get us." He turned on his heels and was up the stairs and gone before I could even process his words.

"Zee?" Oh Goldfish, I can't hate you even if you're going to kill me and sell my parts on the black market. "Zee, come on, I know you're a little shook up but-"

"A little?" Oh no. "A little?" Oops…maybe taking a swing at the guy whose going to control how much people have to pay for my kidneys isn't a good idea.

"Marietta Elizabeth Henly!" Yes mommy, I'm sorry I stole the cookie. I'll put it back—wait…

"Reid Goldfish Garwin!" I yelled right back, but he was smiling.

"You responded in your head first again, didn't you?" He asked but he already knew.

"So what if there's a squirrel living up there right now. First, some really good looking guy with the eyes of a hellion wants to talk to me, then Mr. Darcy starts acting the part of protective uber asshole, then he hits me over the head." I took a breath and couldn't help but start laughing. Reid, evidently saw the humor. I didn't even realize we were on the floor laughing until Caleb came down the stairs. "Legion!" I yelled, "You're not the only one with a squirrel!" Oh that wasn't a happy face.

"Reid, we need to talk to her, if you two are done." Oh, serious face. Sir yes sir!

"How about you show me the exit to this cheap B horror film?" I asked and he just gave me this look. Now, I've seen quite a few looks in my day, and I've made more than that, but this, this was the epitome of looks. It was like the look fairy went to grant him with disgust and ended up accidentally ended up dumping the whole bag.

"O-kay, maybe not." I stood up and brushed my pants off. Wouldn't Lady Air be upset if she knew what was going on. "So, why exactly did Tyler go all slasher film on me?" I asked and was surprised by the mumbled "Sorry" that came from the steps. Evidently he'd been sitting there a while.

"Really." He repeated, "Sorry about this, all of it, but we can't seem to keep friends without them getting into more trouble than we're worth." He stood up and shot Reid a glare. "She shouldn't have stepped a foot inside Nikki's with us, Reid, and you know it." He turned and was up the stairs and gone, brushing past Pogue on his way down.

"Heya, Pogue." I felt extraordinarily happy, possibly from the realization that maybe I wasn't going to die, or possibly from the heavy smell of vanilla from the candles…but it was probably the prior. He wasn't as happy as Reid either. "Okay, Reid, maybe you should talk because everybody else just seems pissy." Pogue smiled his apology and sat down heavily on a stone bench, gesturing toward another. I sat on it, half expecting some giant hand to shoot out and pull be into an abyss I was sure was there but couldn't see.

"We took a vote, you see." What was that Goldfish? Vote? Who's up for election? "Three to one, but the one won." He smirked. "Wasn't very fair now, was it?" I shook my head and Reid sent a mocking glance to Caleb. "Was it, Caleb?"

"Does it really matter, Reid? She, for some reason, has caught Chase's eye and-"

"Chase?" I asked. Who was that?

"The guy Tyler saw you with." Why thank you Goldfish.

"Mr. Ares has a name does he?" I mused and quickly studied the floor when Caleb glared at me. "Well he's more amiable than Tyler." I all but growled out before the theory of possibly death passed through my mind.

"Yeah, real great guy, isn't he?" Wow. Pogue, I didn't know you could be that sarcastic. Good job. Really.

"O-kay, so is this your version of the sex talk, because if it is, Lady Air already went through that. Because of that one, I'll be celibate for the rest of my life. No need for a reminder from the peanut gallery."

Hmm…I've seen that completely dazed and confused look before.

Caleb actually wears it quite well.

Hm…he's kind of cute when his head falls to the side like that. Pogue, on the other hand, doesn't do disgust well.

"Don't act like you just smelled a rotten fish, Pogue. I'm a girl; I have girl parts. They just don't make an appearance as often as some." Wait a second…

Did I…

Did I really just…

Oh lord.

They're laughing. Of course they'd laugh. I make a semi-retarded statement, lets call the presses and print it so everyone can laugh.

Screw that.

I was halfway up the stairs before I realized that they were following me, and I was pulling bloody fingers away from my head before I realized that I had tripped over something.


	8. Foul

Reincarnated Poet: Hello my freaky darlings! I know I'm a horrible person for skipping reviewer shout-outs last chapter, but I couldn't get my internet to work for longer than three or four minutes. I was lucky to get the chapter posted, let alone look up who reviewed. BUT in a humble attempt to make it up to you, I'm putting all reviewers for the last two chapters up here, with a brief response.

Okay, first the last chapter I didn't put the reviewers up for:

Zoey24—Yes, it is a shame that Zee doesn't like Mr. Darcy. I hope you continue to enjoy the writing style.

Dstnd2travel—You never cease to be an amazing reviewer. I'm glad you like the dialogue as well as Zee's reactions. She's been fun to write.

Cmunoz.22—haha I never said he was better looking than poor Legion, just that he was adorable. I hope you know who he is now. ^.~

ShorTee25331—I'm glad you're devoted, I can always use more fans for my stories! Thanks so much!

Madnya1313—I'm glad you like it and think its different!

ShadowPheonix17—Haha, more is on it's way. I took a brief break for my birthday, but more is coming soon!

Mr./Mrs. Anonymous—I try not to use meaningless filler, but it tends to make my stories feel like they're progressing too quickly time wise. I hope that isn't the case for you. Thanks for the review!

Now for my reviewers from chapter seven. I'm not going to respond as I didn't forget this last time. Here they are, you amazing amazing people you: Mandya1313, julliette, my lovely anonymous reviewer, dstnd2travel, and ShorTee25331. You guys are amazing! Hope the quick update is quick enough!

7 Foul!

Okay. That's it. I'm done with the being unconscious thing. It sucks and your tongue feels like sandpaper when you wake up.

"You certainly are, hopefully." Wait a second.

"Huh?" I murmured opening my eyes. White. Hm… "Where am I this time?" I didn't really care who I Was talking to anymore.

"The hospital." Oh, good…What?

"The hospital?" Oh, sitting up bad, so so bad. Thank you mysterious arm and shoulder, that is most helpful. Did you know you smell good? "Hm, thanks."

"No problem. Just don't hit me again." Again…hrmmm…who had I hit in the last week. There was that one guy from Barcelona, Reid, the kid who sits behind me in math, Reid, the guy who constantly fights with Reid, Reid, and…Oh! Tyler, him too. Process of elimination should put this mystery arm as belonging to Reid.

"Not Reid." Was the only thing my mind could process when I looked up and saw dark hair.

He laughed. He actually laughed. I didn't know he was capable of laughter. Not genuine, "that was funny" laughter. Sarcastic, "you're stupid" laughter sure, but not this. It was nice. Authors sometimes call laughter musical, and when they do I cringe and close the book. This, this wasn't music. It was rich and thick.

"No, not Reid." He said and sat down on the side of the bed, dark jeans making a sharp contrast against the white sheets. "Sorry." He mumbled and dropped his eyes. He looked sad for some reason. Oh. I'd tripped over him. That had been him sitting on the stairs.

"I was the bowling ball this time." I smiled and tried to remember why I was being nice. Nothing? Nothing. Why am I being nice? Hm…

"Yeah, I guess so." His hand came out and pushed a bit of hair back, but it fell in front of my face again and I chuckled.

"Won't work, Mr. Darcy." I murmured and his stared at me oddly for a moment.

"Why do you call me that?" Hm. Why do I call him that? Because you're drop dead gorgeous with a stoic face. Silly, silly boy.

"Because you're an ass." Oops…Now he'd be grouchy again.

"What were you going to say?" Wow. Did everyone know about my answering mentally first? Honestly, what's a girl have to do to have her own mental conversations? Have a lobotomy? Sure, sign me up.

"You look like him, in a way. Dark hair. Quiet. Always with the frowning. Adorable." Oh crap.

"Well," he laughed. "I suppose I can let that slip go seeing as though you're concussed." Concussed? Cool. I don't feel concussed. Hum.

"I don't feel concussed." Well, something must be funny. Really, laughing at a girl when she can't hit you for it. Bad form.

"Don't worry, you've been out for a while. Doctor said you shouldn't have been too out of it when you woke up." Asleep for a while…a while…How longs a while?

"How-"

"About twenty minutes originally. You woke up for about an hour earlier. It's been about either eight or nine since then." Okay so that would put it at about…well it was eleven or so when I left Nikki's…crap.

"What time is it, Tyler?" God, am I an invalid? No watch, no seeable clock…oh…hello clock.

"Three in the afternoon." Oh hello sun. It's nice to see you for a change.

"In the afternoon…Three?" Why was I missing something. Where did it go. Come on rolodex of the mind, where is it…Shit.

"I told Sarah and Kate that-"

"Caleb called." Oh good.

"And told them…" Did he actually tell them that Mr. Darcy dashed my brains in and proceeded to trip me going up the stairs? Stairs…creepy dark room lit by candles…ummm…check please?

"That you fell and hit your head on your way down to the park. You hit your head on a parking guard." He smiled for a moment. "Quite the graceful little softball player."

"Yeah." Dark room? Candles? Creepy basement? Creepy middle fire thingy? Ringing any bells? Guess not.

The door opened and closed quietly and I was greeted with none other than the smiling faces of my merry troupe. Wait a minute…My merry troupe. Since when have I thought of them as my merry troupe? I mean sure, Reid's my Goldfish, Caleb's my Legion, Tyler's my Mr. Darcy, and Pogue…wow…he's escaped my clutches. Note to self: Come up with an equally as amazing nickname for Pogue. Poor Pogue, he's nameless.

"Zee?" Oops…They were talking.

"My bad." I murmured and returned my attention to the four boys. God were they imposing together. Legion looks serious. Wait…so does Pogue…and Tyler…and…Oh god the world is coming to an end. Shoot me please, I don't want to be eaten by locusts! "Goldfish, if the world is ending, just shoot me, m-kay?"

Oh, good, now he's looking at me like I'm insane. The world must be…oh wait, that's normal. "The world's not ending, and I'm not going to kill you." He supplied.

"Thank you for clearing that up then." Well it seemed like the right thing to say. Now, decision time. Do I come right out and ask where the hell I'd been before this, or do I stay all quiet and feign ignorance to the world around me? Answers. Ignorance. Answers. Ignorance. God damn my curiosity.

"So, Nameless, you want to tell me where I was, or should I ask one of the ones with names?" Oooh, Nameless…hmm…nah.

"Nameless?" Oh good, he shares in my decision. When it became apparent that I wasn't going to answer, he continued, "Caleb's." Oh good. Calebs? Oh good, I was right in my original assumption that he was certifiable.

"Caleb?" I asked and he raised and eyebrow. "I told you if you were Legion, and we are many to just tell me and I'd give you a wide berth." Wow, no laugh. Maybe he was nuts.

"We have to talk to you, Marietta." Uh-uh. Nope. I told them what I like to be called. I told them that they were to never call me-

"Marietta!" God, I told them…wait…Must move. Must move faster. Oww oww oww oww. Needle in arm, needle in arm. Aha! Needle removed. Oh do move your ass Reid, please? Screw it. Fake right, go left. Yes! Door…Hallway…DADDY!!!

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" Umph…Ouch. Daddy? Marietta's gotta breathe…That's it…Oxygen…Oxygen? Oxygen?!

"How's your head? What happened? Who tripped you? Did you trip? Were your shoes untied? Was it a hit and run? Was there a car involved? Who hit you?" Huh?

"Dad, its okay. I just tripped." Wow does he look angry now. Maybe I should have told him that one kid Reid's always fighting with hit me. Hrmm…Too late now.

"You tripped." It wasn't a question. There was no disbelief. God I missed you, Dad. "Yepp. Makes sense." He was laughing! My own father! I'm hit. I'm hit deep. I might not recover. "Come on, let's go get your stuff from your room. I signed you out. I've got a hotel we can take you to your dorm, get you changed, and get you some Denny's." Denny's? Oh, I do love you, Daddy.

We had entered the room before I remembered I'd left four boys standing in it. Wow did they look angry. Wow did my dad look angry. Wow…I'm busted. "This is Caleb, Reid, Pogue, and Tyler. Guys, this is my dad." I looked up, waiting…waiting…

"You four stay away from my baby." There it was. There was the famous glare…now…yepp, there's the mischievous little smile on Reid's face, and there's the matching one on my dad's. "Nah, I'm just kidding. The nurse said that one of you brought her to the hospital?"

"I did."

Beduh?

Really?

Wow.

Brownie points to Mr. Darcy.

"Thank-you." He mused for a moment, and looked down to study me. He did that from time to time. Got all quite and thoughtful. I think that's were I get my mental statement from. Oh, he asked a question.

"You boy's hungry?" Oh-no. Daddy, I love you. I miss you. Don't invite tag-along's…Shit. Are boys always hungry? Don't answer that.

_The world is trying to kill me. It's a viscous, viscous place, designed to root out your weaknesses and exploit them. Mine, you ask? Blueberry pancakes. Yes, yes I know. They stain your mouth and make you look like the patient with a failed respirator but by god they're amazing. _

_So…On a more oh god oh god I'm going to die note. Told Pops about playing ball again…His reaction you ask? Well, how about I just show you…_

"So, boys, how did you all meet my little-umph." I removed my hand from Dad's mouth just in time for the rest of the group to laugh. Reid almost became a Pepsi fountain, and Tyler actually chuckled. I think something's wrong with him. The flu…a fever…cholera. One never can be too sure.

"I was instructed to show her about campus when she arrived." Oh, Legion, how you are adorable with half a pancake shoved into your mouth.

"Oh, well thank-you. She didn't give you any trouble did she?" Oh come on! Me? Trouble? Honestly.

"No, other than thinking I was insane." He smiled and I tossed a bit of sausage at him, which Reid quickly confiscated with his fork from the table top.

"In my defense, he did use the first person plural when I met him." Chomp. Yummy.

"That sounds about right." What? Geeze Dad, thanks. "What about you three?" Oh joy.

"Class." Thank you Pogue. Hrmm…what to call you, what to call you. "You should have seen her and Reid…" Oh bad Pogue, bad! Down boy! Sit! Stay! Heel! Oh god no…Damn.

"Oh?" Just let it go Dad, let it go. "What happened?"

"Well…" Traitor! I knew I hated you Tyler. "See, Reid told her if she needed anything, anything at all, that he was the one to ask. She played him. Told him that she did need something but maybe Pogue would be more suited to help her." I wasn't watching him as he told the story. Nope. I was watching my father. Whose ears were becoming redder and redder. "So he goes, 'I can help you with anything your little mind can come up with.' Which in hind site, was his downfall."

"I would suppose so." Oh he did not sound happy. Run Reid! He's not going to wait for the whole story. I'm sure he can hide a shotgun on his person. Just run! Run now!

"So she gets up real close, and asks again if he really means anything." Oh Jesus, he's enjoying this. Look at him smile and send me odd looks. I do hate you, Mr. Darcy, but by God do you have a really nice smile. "So he, thinking he'd gotten into someone else's pants says yeah."

"Sure, then she slaps a paper in front of me and asks for a list of ball players and their entire life story's." Reid groused, picking at an egg. I gave him the rest of my pancakes to assuage his ego as the group, including my father, laughed.

Oh good, he's going to let it slide.

Crap.

Mission failed.

Abort! Abort!

Send out the wrecker, we need a tow.

"Why'd you want to know who all played, Zebra?" Shit. Shit. Shit. Shi…Wait…Shit!

"Zebra?" Oh sure, laugh it up. Go right ahead.

"Laugh while you can, Goldfish." Ooh that shut him up. Yay. Duck! "I gave you that to eat, not throw at me."

"Marietta." Oh, it was that tone. El sigho.

"Well, you see…" How to explain… "I saw this pitcher."

"No." Damn.

"And she wasn't very good so—"

"No, Marietta." Well, if at first you don't succeed.

"And I just tossed the ball around at first."

"I don't care."

"And it doesn't hurt at all. None of it." Did it work? Was there a response yet?

"Sure it doesn't." Damn.

"Honestly, at first things pulled, but I've been doing some work lately, and it—"

"Fine, we'll go out tomorrow or something, see if you can make it through a real workout. If you can, I'll think about letting you play again." Did he not understand that it didn't matter what he said? Did he not understand that the flipping spikes winked at me? Did he not get it?

"Tomorrow?" Yes, Tyler, tomorrow, what did you think he said.

"Yeah, why?" Wow, did Dad actually not snap at him.

"She's got a concussion. That's not a good idea." Oh shit. Clear the area, we're going nuclear.

"She'll be fine. It's not the first time she's had a bump on the head." Thank you Daddy, for defending my head's honor.

"Maybe I could come by, just to make sure." Whahahat?

Beduh?

Huh?

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

Why?

How?

Are there any more question words I can use? No? Okay…

"Alright, maybe you can help a bit." Wow. They're getting along. Why the hell are they getting along? That's not fair! Foul! Ball! Red card! Yellow card! Personal foul! Come on ref! Give me something here. Damn.


	9. Bastard!

Reincarnated Poet : Hello my freaky darlings! I am writing this in the only spare time I have: after my father goes to bed. But never fear because, here pretty soon my classes will start for the summer and I will have five undisturbed hours to work on this! I plan on finishing up the story in about six or seven more chapters. It might take a turn that I hadn't foreseen and be another ten though, so maybe it will end up a bit longer than I have planned. I'm hoping to finish it up in a week or two because I have another story brewing around in my head. Thank you to my two amazing reviewers for the last chapter ShorTee (If you don't mind my shortening of your name) and cmunoz.22. You two are amazing!

8

God what possessed me to get up this early? Nothing could be worth this. Ouch, damn it, who the hell left a softball in the middle of the…oh. I pulled my self from bed and busied myself with getting ready to go throw. Socks, check. Spikes, check. Balls, check. Extra balls, check. Glove, check. Water, check. Now to wait.

I sat looking about my room, stretching my arm out. I'd never really unpacked. Things where still in boxes. My clothes had never really made it to a drawer, and it was beginning to look like my room at home. Time to clean.

"Joy to the world, the ump has come!

Let the diamond receive her king!

Let everyone prepare to boo,

And watch the batter swing

And watch the batter swing

And watch, and watch, the batter swing!

Joy to the world, the pitcher reigns!

Let everyone, the game, enjoy;

While moms and dads, brothers, sisters, and fans

Repeat the home teams chant

Repeat the home teams chant

Repeat, repeat the home teams chant.

No more let hits and free runs go

Nor fly balls hit the ground

She comes to run and dive,

Far as the ball is hit

Far as the ball is hit

Far as, far as, the ball is hit."

"Does the last part have to do with scraped knees and missed pitches?" I spun on my heels and dropped the dirty socks I'd been sniffing.

"Uh…" How did he get inside? Did I not lock the door? Did he see me smelling my own socks? "No, actually it's about the pitcher." He laughed. Of course he'd laugh. Something in the water made his brain melt the other day and since then he's been a human. I have to admit, this version of Mr. Darcy doesn't make me want to stick my foot in a bear trap.

"Of course." No. Do not touch my—oh god. Please just put it down. Please? It's my baby. No, don't put it on. God, who gave you permission to put my glove on? Me? I certainly did not. "Everything okay?" No it's not okay. You're wearing my glove.

"Yeah, fine." I lied quickly enough. Points to me for pulling it off. "My dad's meeting us at the field. Come on." I pulled my spikes on and grabbed the bucket I'd put all my stuff in before stealing my beloved baby back. Thank god. Hmm…I bet his hand smells like leather now…mmm…leather.

"I can carry that you know." He half offered. I shook my head and smiled. If I didn't know any better I'd say he was trying to make friends.

"Nah, I got it. Goldfish still in bed?" I asked and he nodded. "Legion and Color Blind still in bed?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Color blind?"

"Never mind. Motorcycle Boy? Rumble Fish?" Ah there was the spark of recognition. "He was color blind."

"Oh…Well…I don't know if that's really-"

"I'm just trying things out. You other three were easy. He's…evasive to say the least."

"You could call him Pogo Stick like everyone else." I scoffed. Really? Pogo Stick? Was I that uncreative? I think not.

"You mean like all the other unobservant beings that don't have a sentient thought of their own. I am more original than that my good sir." He just nodded his head.

"You feeling alright?" This is not normal. I think he's sick. Nothing in the water could alter someone's personality this badly.

"Yeah, why?" Careful…careful…

"You're sweating and you're face is a bit red." Red? I was red? Good god, wait until I actually start working out, Mr. Darcy, then you'll see red.

"Nah, I'm good. I always get flushed before I'm going to practice, endorphins and all that." He nodded but kept watching me.

It didn't take us five minutes to make it to the field, but my dad was already there. Where was his glove? Did it disappear? Was it tucked under his foot? "Umm…Dad?"

"Don't ask. You have a glove, pretty boy?" There was the Dad I know and love. Come here you cute, adorable, psychotic little gnome, I could just pinch your cheeks.

"Yes." Good god, was that thing hiding in the back of his jeans the whole time? How did I miss that? It was three inches above the most perfect specimen of ass this world has ever seen! How did I oh—ha I wasn't looking three inches above…Silly me. Wait a second…

Glove…Tyler…Glove…Tyler…God no!

"Dad you can't be serious."

"He offered and I left mine back in Illinois. I'm not buying a new one. It'll cost me two hundred dollars for a left handed mitt big enough." I groaned and watched as a smile lit up Tyler's face. Sure he was loving this. When I knocked him on his ass, who was he going to blame? My dad? I think not.

"It's fine, Mar." Mar? Mar? Was I a Spanish ocean?

"I am not a sea in Spanish, thank you." I tossed him the ball and let the tendons in my fingers that ran up the back of my arm slowly pull themselves loose.

"Slow, Zee." Yes Daddy. "You feel that pull and you stop." Yes Daddy. "That knee gives you any trouble and you let me know." Yes Daddy. "And if that muscle in your back starts twitching again, you sit right down where you stand." Jesus Christ I was patient, but this is getting out of hand.

"I know Dad." There, serious voice, and now he was wearing his serious face. Tyler on the other hand looked baffled.

"What did you-"

"Torn ligament in my arm. That little doozie runs from the elbow down to the tips of the fingers." I tapped the middle of my arm with my glove. "Torn ACL in my knee, cracked the cap too." I raised the boy shorts to show off my scar. "And—"

"Let me guess, twisted wrong and tore something in your back." Well didn't he think he was smart.

"No. Car accident. The frame of the seat pushed right through into a nerve cluster in my back. I can't feel the tips of my left toes from it." I smiled. "It's actually really cool." Well gee, just keep on frowning why don't you?

"That's not cool." He tossed the ball back and we fell into an easy silence. Muscles pulled and eased and ached but nothing more than a dull throb. What felt the oddest was the actual ball in my hand.

"I have to warn you," I started and my dad just laughed. "When I actually start throwing, I'm going to stop being my adorable self." I smiled and Tyler just frowned. "Okay you've been warned."

"I wasn't frowning about that." Oh wasn't he? "Since when have you been adorable?" Excuse me? He did not just-

"She's adorable, now get your Abercrombie ass down behind the plate so she can get some real work done." Thank you Daddy, I love you too.

"Alright, I'll start with some frames." I took up my position and started lightly tossing the ball. Nothing hurt. Nothing hurt! Hahahaha. Score. The frames quickened and Tyler, to his credit, stayed behind the plate, tipping a couple off of his glove. I think I might have nicked his shin on a low one, but he didn't complain. When I moved back to the mound and actually started throwing, that was a different issue.

Let me ask you this: is it my fault if I was a little rusty with my control? No. I haven't thrown for a year and a half. Give me a break, Tyler, and your knees? They aren't that far from the strike zone.

It was about an hour later when my Dad decided to be cute. "Is that all you got? Cause if it is, you might has well just hand me the ball and let me pitch." Oh no he didn't. Oww. Oww. Owwie. Ow Ow. Okay, so bad idea with the know back snap thing, but look at how much faster it went. Two or three miles an hour for a bit of back pain, sign me up!

"Better, but not good enough." Oh hell, Tyler didn't even catch that one though…come to think of it, he's going to look like a little smurf after this is over. "Throw a change up." Uh-oh. Well here goes.

"Shit." The ball soared over Tyler's head and clanged into the back stop. I wasn't as concerned with where it ended up, as I was currently sitting on my ass.

"What hurts?" My dad asked in a non committal tone. I bit my lip as Tyler stood up and walked toward the mound. He looked a bit worried. Wow. He does have a soul. Legion didn't take it after all.

"Nothing." I bit the inside of my cheek and kept my tone even. "Just needed a bit of a sit down." I rolled my back and stiffened when it ached again. "Maybe that's good for today?" Wow did Dad look unimpressed.

"I suppose." He smiled and helped me up. "Good job kiddo." Yay! "You and Tyler go get showered. I'll take you both out to lunch. Thanks for helping, kid." He smiled at Tyler who was about five steps behind, holding my bucket full of things.

"Oh, here." I grabbed the handle and pulled, but for some reason he wouldn't let go. "Seriously, you're limping on both legs and probably ache all over. Give me the bucket." He refused and my dad took it and set it in the back of the truck he'd rented.

"An hour long enough?" I nodded and we parted ways. Tyler was quiet for the most part, until we'd made it past the edge of the field.

"You're pretty good." His voice was noncommittal and could have been sarcasm if not for the look on his face.

"Thanks." I watched him walk for a bit. "I'm sorry." He just smiled.

"Reid's never going to let me live this down. How's your head?" My head? Oh! I had been concussed.

"It's fine. Like he said," I gestured behind me in the direction my dad had gone. "It's not my first injury. Oh, and tell Reid that if he wants to give you any trouble, that he can come catch next time." Tyler's eyes widened.

"I caught for the baseball team freshman year. Reid doesn't even own a glove." I sent him a look that was meant to say, "so what" but I don't think it came across.

"Anyway, I'm going to bail on the dad lunch thing." I informed him. "You can go if you want, but I'm not. I have homework."

"Shouldn't you have told him that?"

Silly silly boy.

"No, if he doesn't bail first I'll be surprised." My phone vibrated against my chest and Tyler heard the noise. "Umm…" I turned around and fished my phone out of my bra strap. "Excuse me. Scaley's Fish Market, Scaley Speaking." Tyler stopped walking but I kept on moving, listening to the song and dance I was getting over the phone. "Yeah, sure, that's great, yeah. I understand, you can't risk losing the opportunity. Of course." La la la la la la la la…"Yeah, sure I'll see you soon. Ahuh. Bye."

"Scaley?"

"Dad's bailing. He says he has a job opportunity back in Illinois. He can't risk missing the cut. Layoffs were huge this last winter and if he misses the sign up he might never get hired back." I explained and stopped dead in my tracks. "My glove. He has my glove! That bastard!"

"I'm sure he'll-"

"You bet your fat A he will." I pulled the phone back out and had it ringing before I'd finished yelling at Tyler. "Yeah, you better bring my bucket by the dorms. Yeah, we're almost there. Yeah, yeah. Just leave it outside my door or something I'll be there in five." El sigho. Well I could have at least gotten a hug. Oh well.

"See?" Tyler nudged me with his shoulder and I almost fell over. Not from the actual physical contact, no, but from the shock.

"Okay, what the hell happened to you?" Oh, that look goes well with those shoes, Mr. Darcy, but you might try one with a little less eye bulging.

"What do you mean what happened to me?" He stared at me for a minute and I just looked back. "Oh." His eyes dropped and he kept on walking, picking up his pace. "I figured being an ass wasn't getting what I wanted accomplished. Maybe being a decent human being might." Wow. "Besides, you're hard to dislike." I beamed. I was hard to dislike! Ha ha ha ha ha ha take that Katylin Shoemaker, I'm likable. "But you're hard to like on occasions too." Ha ha ha ha…wait…

"Hey!"

"No offense or anything." He smiled and I allow it to pass as the joke I was hoping it was.

When I got to my dorm the bucket was where he said he'd leave it. No note. No good-bye letter. Nothing. Just my glove, my spikes, and my bucket…hey! He stole my bottle of water! Damn. Oh well.

"Hey, Mar." God damn, what's with the Mar? My name is Zee. What is so hard to understand about that. It's pronounced like a single letter! It's not like I have some ancient Indian name that's difficult to remember.

"Yes?" Tyler was halfway down the hall toward the stairs that would lead to his floor. Hm. Where does he live? Oh well, doesn't matter. If they want to find me, they can come to me.

"Reid was wondering if you wanted to go out with us to Nikki's. The girls want to get to know their new pitcher." I smiled at the last comment. Wait a second. Didn't the last time I went out with them I ended up in a basement full of freaky candles and then the hospital. No thanks, Charlie Brown.

"Nah." I picked the bucket up. "I need some rest. I'm sore."

"Yeah I know the feeling." Oh, yeah, I did beat the living tar out of him. "Hey, Tyler, wait a second." I unlocked my door and rummaged around my room. Where was it? Where was the little devil? Ah, there you are! "Here," I ran back out my room and almost directly into him, but he side stepped and we avoided another possible hospital visit. "Here." I handed him the tube I'd been rummaging for.

"Biofreeze?" He asked and I nodded.

"Anywhere you're sore, put that." I thought for a moment. Should I warn him? I would be a horrible person if I didn't…Oh he was trying, I might as well. "Don't put it anywhere…" I thought for a moment. "Inguinal." He cocked his head to the side. "Really?" His expression didn't change. "No where near the hot dog." No reaction. Come on. "Avoid any tender regions." Nothing. "Well hell, don't put it on your groin or anywhere close to it. On that note, avoid your armpits as well." He smiled.

"I know." He knew! Bastard! "It's fun seeing how many ways you can say something before you come right out and be blunt." It was fun? Fun?

"You want to be leaving now. Oh, tell Legion and Pear Tree to tell Kate and Sarah that we can make up our softball session…Tuesday after classes." He was already walking away.

"That one sucks too." He yelled over his shoulder. Damn.


	10. Down and Out

ReincarnatedPoet: Hello all. I know I've been slow but classes are approaching and my free time has been reduced to all but mere moments at a time. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

9

_I haven't written anything in what feels like days. Its been a week and a half since the entire first practice with Kate and Sarah fiasco. I couldn't tell them they were horrible, but…well…why don't I just let you see for yourself again?_

Come on, come on, come on. How long does it take to get changed and grab a glove? We've been out of classes for…ten minutes? Twenty? Who knew. Not me.

Sarah and Kate had walked back to their dorm with the promise of meeting me at the field. I'd been sitting here for the last ten minutes, awaiting their arrival, to no avail. I'd taken to drawing pictures in the limestone when I felt the sun leave my shoulders. "Whoever you are, it isn't cute to stand in front of the sun." Now, if they don't say anything, I'll kick backward and catch them in the shins before I run. If they say something…I'll improvise then.

"Kate and Sarah said sorry they're late." Oh, Goldfish.

"So they sent you, my dear Goldfish?" He crouched down in the dirt and glanced at my drawing. "It's a good likeness, don't you think?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Who is it?" Who is it? Who is it? Come on! You can't tell? I've take the better part of three minutes to etch this beautiful likeness into the ground, and you can't tell who it is?

"No one." I skimmed my glove over the face and stood up, dusting the dirt off my shorts as Kate and Sarah came into view from center field. I watched them attempt to jump the fence. I say attempt because they never actually made it over successfully. They ended up walking around the whole thing. "So why're you here, Goldfish?" He smiled and reached into the back of his jeans and produced what looked to be a brand new glove. Oh no.

"We all thought that maybe we'd have a friendly little competition." We? Whose we?

"Do you have a mouse in your pocket or are you expecting more?" Why'd I ask. If I hadn't have asked he wouldn't have given me that smirk and then the car racing at us followed by a bike might not have been who I think it is.

"Hey girl!" Sarah yelled as she linked up her arm with her boyfriend. "We have company!" Yes, yes I see silly girl. How are we to get any work done with your boyfriend and his posse hanging about? I ask you.

"Oh, great." Wow, that didn't even sound convincing to me.

"Don't sound so excited." Well, you know Pogue, maybe I could sound more excited if you weren't toting around a baseball bat the size of Mt. Rushmore.

"Uh, what is that?" I gestured toward the bat.

"Come on, you have to know a bat when you see one." I rose an eyebrow at his playful manner.

"I know a sequoia tree when I see one." I slipped a hand into the bucket and pulled my bat out, holding it out for inspection. "This is a softball bat. Light." I flipped it end for end. "Long." Another flip. "With just a bit of flex." I demonstrated the flex. "Really though, I'd rather everyone used a bat like that one." I tossed mine to Sarah and Kate, who almost dropped it.

This was going to be…fun? Interesting? Something like that. "So." Oh, Kate, you adorable adorable little girl. "Let's play teams, whoever has the most players has to have Reid." Ouch. Haha. Aww, he looks so sad.

"I'll take Goldfish." I smiled down at him and helped him to his feet and took his glove and picked the tag off before handing it back. He smiled sheepishly and looked out at the field. "Seven people two teams." I studied the remaining players. "Who else is a captain."

"How about me?" Oh, Mr. Darcy, I was hoping you'd be my catcher. How sad. "I want Caleb." They shared a smile. Oh, fine if they want to be that way.

"Then I'll be taking Sarah." I smiled at the girl who joined out team as Kate joined the other.

"Was there a point if separating the couples?" Pogue asked with a frown.

"Do you honestly think Caleb is willing to put Sarah into the dirt on a tag?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not hurting Kate either." He groused and I tossed him the ball.

"That's why you're pitching." He smiled and took the mound. "Uh…Sarah, Reid, where do you two want to play?" Reid looked at me with a blank face and shrugged his shoulders.

"I play first." First? She can catch? Oh my.

"Okay you go to first, Reid and I'll range out the infield and outfield." The other team was lining up to bat. "The next batter is the catcher, if there's a play that needs to be made at him, they get the hell out of the way." Laughter greeted my ears as I let Reid play up the middle, hoping Pogue would knock most of the hits down.

The game was surprisingly fun, after I relaxed and admitted that Sarah could, in fact, catch the ball. She couldn't hit to save her soul though, and it was tied two to two when I pulled Reid off to the side and gave him some quick pointers on hitting. Meaning, I told him how to bunt.

To the surpise of the field, he laid down a decent bunt and was on first for the first time in his life. Suffice it to say we made it out of the inning with another run. Pogue managed to strike Kate out, but Tyler was sitting on third with only two out when Caleb came to bat. He hadn't managed to strike Legion out all game.

"Time out!" I called and gestured for the ball. Pogue groaned and handed the ball over.

"No offense, Zee, but we want to win." He didn't. Reid Garwin, you'd better run. Now. I shot him a glare and he backed up a bit.

"Get in the box, Legion. Rapunzel take the left half of the field, stick close to Tyler."

"Huh?" Pogue asked and Tyler started laughing.

"She's talking to you, Goldielocks." Tyler taunted and Pogue jogged over to third amid jeers and cheers. I stepped on the mound and Tyler made a similar sound to Pogue. "Pack it up, Cay." He laughed when Caleb squished his face in disbelief. Sure, Legion, keep looking like that. No, it's okay, you don't have to pick the bat off your shoulder. Stay just like that.

Kate shrieked and vacated the backstop on the first pitch. Caleb just watched it go by. "Strike!" Reid yelled from up the middle and I smiled at him as I turned. How cute was that? I had a fan club! "Strike two!" Reid yelled, followed quickly by foul. That little bastard! Caleb actually managed to get bat on ball. Shit, I was slowing down. Another foul ball and I couldn't help but smile to myself as an idea lit up my head.

The ball broke up and in quickly and Caleb ended up on his butt. Sarah laughed from first as he got up and dusted himself off.

"Watch it, Marietta." He cautioned and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'm just a little girl who can't help where she puts the ball." That's it Caleb, don't get all the way up to the plate again. Don't want to end up on your ass a second time…or maybe you do. "Oops." I apologized as he got up a second time, but he didn't seem nearly as forgiving. Time to play.

Big motion.

Aggressive face.

Long drive off the mound.

Loud grunt.

And big beautiful ball floating up like a beach ball just on the outside corner…there.

"Strike three!" Reid yelled, celebrating with Sarah at first.

Ow.

Bad idea.

Very bad idea.

Must sit down.

Ah, good ground.

"You're a little shit, you know that right." Pogue blocked the sun from the sky and I frowned up at him. "You could have done that the whole time." I smiled and he sat down beside me as Caleb and Tyler joined us on the mound as Kate sat in Pogue's lap. I just laid still as the celebrating duo at first calmed down.

"Dude, Caleb," Tyler started, but the elder boy just threw his glove at the youngest.

"So," I started and sat up, wincing as the muscle in my back protested. "Anything you two want to work on?" I asked Kate, who just shook her head. "Where do you play?" I asked and she shrugged. Really? She didn't know? Well clearly she wasn't a catcher. She did an alright job fielding the ball, but her throws to first were ugly. "Alright." I stood up with Reid's help. He and Sarah had finally calmed down. "Why don't you take second?" I asked Kate who just looked like I'd taken away her birthday.

"We're still not done?" Done? Did she say done? Oh hell no.

"Just take the position Kate." I admonished and grabbed my bat and a ball. The boys moved to the side to watch for a bit until Tyler offered to catch for me. I was starting to think that boy wasn't a total asshole.

"So why didn't you throw the whole game?" He asked while I hit Kate ground balls. She wasn't half bad at second, but the fact that she didn't quite know how to throw was killing me. Sarah'd taken about six balls to the shin before I handed Tyler the bat and jogged out to Kate.

"Like this." I showed her how to throw, keeping her elbow up and how to step. She caught on quickly enough. "Because I like to play the field." I told him when I returned. It's fun, you don't have to think about every pitch and every movement you make. It's natural and instinct." He nodded and winced when Sarah took yet another ball off the shin. "Here." I handed him the bat again and gestured for him to hit me a ball to second.

I saw his smirk before I saw the angle the bat left the ball. Asshole. I drop-stepped back and turned and started running. Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

It was getting lower, and I was slower than I'd remembered. Dive or let it fall? The memory of his smirk has my feet leaving the ground and my chest and stomach colliding with the crushed limestone.

Sweet as potatoes. I pushed myself up, pivoting on my knee and tossed the ball to Sarah and first. A round of cat calls and whistles came from the bench where Reid was jumping up and down. With a huff I sat back down onto my butt and just watched Tyler's smile fade.

"You're way too much fun to disappoint." I yelled at him and stood up. "But that wasn't the purpose of this." I showed Kate how to turn to make the throw to first and shoo'd Sarah off the bag for Kate's next throw, showing her how to orient her body toward the ball. On a particularly wild throw, Kate had cursed and I stretched out, a bit too far.

"Shit." I slipped down in the dirt as the ball bounced off the ground and rattled into the fence. "Shit." I felt the muscles in the backs of my legs pull and clench as I made contact with the dirt. "Reid!" I yelled from my split position. He laughed and jogged over.

"Yes?" He asked and I held my hand out expectantly. He helped me up and I almost fell back over.

"Ow." I complained and gimped my way back over to the bench where the others were sitting. Tyler kept hitting Sarah and Kate ground balls as I watched, trying to get my legs to stop cramping.

"That was pretty impressive though." Pogue offered and I smiled. It must have came out as more of a grimace because both Caleb and Reid couldn't stop laughing.

Later that night, I was sitting on my bed, my absentee roommate had left about an hour ago, sending me odd looks as I rubbed Biofreeze into any visible skin. It was in this cloud of vapor that Reid and Tyler found me.

They must live close. Really they must. Hmm…

"You okay?" Reid asked when I just told them to come in and didn't get the door. Tyler laughed when he took a breath.

"Sore?" he asked and I shot him a glare.

"I have bruises on my boobs; you don't want to talk to me." He blushed and Reid laughed. "Oh don't you laugh either, I bet tomorrow you'll be sore too." He just shot me a look that was meant to be a challenge, but I wasn't biting.

"Do you really?" Did I really what?

"Bruises." He gestured toward my chest and I just glared at him.

"You try that and not get bruises." I mockingly held the right side of my chest and he laughed. "What did you want?" I asked as Reid picked his way through my dirty clothes to sit down on my bed.

"We didn't really want to, but…" He paused and had that look that he wore when he didn't want to talk about something. "Caleb says we have to have a talk with you about…Chase." Mr. Ares? Oooh, I'd almost forgotten.

"What about my Greek God?" I asked and Tyler shot me a glare. "What he's hot." Reid cleared his throat and gave me the serious look.

"He's…trouble. Has been for a while. We don't think you should leave campus by yourself. He's been known to…kidnap girls." Kidnap?

"Ask Sarah, if you have to. He took her last year as a sick joke." He took my first baseman? Oh no he didn't. Reid must have judged my feeling from my expression, but he judged wrongly. "Don't worry, we're looking after you and Sarah and Kate." Did I look like I needed looking after?

"Reid, I have the shoulders of a linebacker. I don't need you to look after me. I can take his scrawny ass out. In fact…" I stood up and pulled my jersey top over my head, walking around the room in under armor. I fished a relatively clean shirt and pair of jeans off the ground and changed in the bathroom while Tyler attempted to not look at the form fitting shirt, and Reid looked with a smirk on his face. "You laugh at my fatty self, Reid Garwin, and I'll hit you with Stealthy." He laughed out loud at my nickname for my softball bat.

"Well don't you look ready to face the world?" Tyler asked as I emerged in my outfit. I glanced down and smiled. It was my favorite top. Black with a picture of a Bible on the front. I smirked and turner around. Reid and Tyler both laughed at the slogan on the back.

"What's a pulpit?" Reid asked after his laughed died down and I just tossed a dirty sock at him. "Hey!" He yelled as I hauled him off my bed and pushed him through my door.

"Go home." I ordered and took off down the hall, clad in my favorite outfit to look threatening in. Boots a friend had once called Curb Stompers, black jeans with tears and holes worn into them, a black shirt, and my black leather jacket completed the bad ass ensemble.

"Zee?" Oh couldn't they just do as they were told? "Zee, where do you think you're going?" Duh. That was a hard question to figure the answer to.

"To Nikki's." I bit over my shoulder and planned on going down the steps when selfsame shoulder was gripped and I was spun about. Damn that was quick.

"We tell you that a guy's out there that wants to kidnap you and possibly do horrible things and you're going to meet him?" Wow, you're angry Mr. Darcy. Goldfish? You look equally pissed off.

"No." I started and rolled my shoulder to remind him that he was pressing a bit too hard. "You tell me that my first baseman and only female almost friend here was kidnapped by hot boy and I'm going to go rearrange his face so no one else even looks at him." I dropped my voice and gripped his wrist giving it a warning squeeze.

"Do you know how dumb that sounds?" He asked. I did warn him. I did. As god as my omnipresent witness I warned him. I jerked his wrist to the side and pivoted, pulling his wrist across his back and pushing him into the wall.

"Dumb enough for me to want to do it." I answered and let go of his wrist when he jerked it away. I was down the stairs before either of them could stop me. I was sure the car that raced by me half a mile down the road was them, but they didn't stop, and I didn't look for them at Nikki's.

The bar was crowded, moreso than I'd seen it the other night. Mr. Wonderful was sitting at the bar, leaning back against it, looking at the door, as if he were waiting. I put on a smile and waited for him before walking out the door. We were about twenty or thirty feet from the building before I heard car doors slamming. "So." I started and he just smiled at me. "I heard you like girls." He laughed. This isn't funny, Mr. Ares, not one bit. "I heard you like taking them against their will." He frowned and I spun on my heel and drove my fist into his jaw. He turned backward and I heard feet sliding on the gravel. I didn't really care as I threw my knee up into his stomach and turned away from him as he gasped.

"What the-"

"Fuck?" I asked, completing his sentence. "Yeah. Fuck. Fuck as in, 'fuck that hurt.'" I frowned and turned back toward him. He was on his knees, breathing heavily. "You know what?" I asked and he looked like he was smiling. I took half a step forward and crouched down. "Touch Sarah or Kate, and I'll make sure you have the ability to fuck yourself with your own-"

Where did he go? Why am I on my back? Why do my shoulders hurt? Woah…things are spinning. Reid? Is that you? Oh, it is. Or some pretty blonde girl with short hair. Huh. Reid are you pretty?

"What?" He laughed. Oh, crap, I said that out loud, didn't I? "You okay Zee-Zee?" He sounds worried. Maybe he should be, why's everything all…techno? No that wasn't the right word. Psyched out maybe? I feel high. Ugh, I'm fairly sure when you're high you're not supposed to feel pain. I sat up slowly, and Tyler and Reid were both crouched next to me. Chase was gone.

"What the hell?" I groaned and put a hand to my head and looked at my fingers for blood. Oh good, no cut this time. Gravel fell from my hair as I rubbed the bump that was forming. "Where did that little jack-off go?" I asked and tried to stand up but ended up weaving and falling again. "I'm not done kicking his ass." I managed to get to my feet that time. Hey, go me!

"No, I think you are, Zee." Tyler pulled my arm over his head and supported most of my weight across his shoulders. Hey now, my arm, down boy.

"Mnnn…" I groaned and tried to pull away but was sandwiched between the two of them. For some reason, the bump on my head had turned off my inner editor. "You know boys, you didn't have to wait for my to do something really dumb for a Zee-Sandwich." Reid laughed and Tyler just groaned and shook his head. Oh poo you're not fun.

"No we aren't." Did I say that out loud again?

"Would you stop with the Jedi mind reading?" I asked and it didn't seem to register in my head. The world was spinny and full of dull colors made blindingly brilliant by the white swirling with them.

"Yeah, of course, kiddo." Kiddo? Why aren't I angry with that? I should be. I know I should be, but I can't bring myself to be. Oh well.

The next thing I know we were back in my dorm room. I couldn't remember giving either of them my keys, but maybe I didn't lock it. "Guys?" I asked as Reid sat on the other side of my bed and Tyler laid across the bottom.

"Huh?" I heard from beside me and I forced my eyes open for a moment.

"Just for my piece of mind, I did kick his ass, right?" Reid laughed and stood up, pulling Tyler to his feet.

"Of course, just stay away from him alright? We need to talk. All of us. Tomorrow." He sounded serious. "Early." That was almost sad sounding. "Before class." Class? I had class tomorrow? Oh, that's right…I have class everyday. "We'll come to you, okay, kiddo?"

"M'not a kid, Reid." I admonished before the door shut and I fell asleep. The world was a confusing place of late. People who I like and seem nice kidnap people I like and seem nice. I probably got my ass handed to me by a skinny little prep of a boy. The world was on its side, and that was just not cool.

My cell was off the nightstand and in my hand ringing before I even realized I was calling someone. "Scaley's Fish Market-"

"Axel, I need a talk." I cut him off and he didn't seem to mind too much.

"What happened?" Oh good ol' Rosey, always willing to cut the bullcrap and listen.

"I got my ass kicked, I think."

"You think?" He paused. "Well, that's about time." Oh the humanity.

"That hurts Rosey, that hurts." He sighed and apologized.

"You alright?"

"No I'm calling you as I slowly bleed out from the six inch knife would that has gutted my like a fish. I wanted you to know that you can have my Beetles records as well as my Repo movie." Boys were stupid sometimes.

"Well thanks." He hung up. That bastard hung up! I looked at the phone in shock as it rang again.

"Scaley's Fish Market Scaley Speaking." I said, laughing as he picked right up on the conversation we'd been having, ignoring my greeting.

"So who was it?" I told him and he seemed a bit quiet.

"Earth to Axel, come in please." And boy, did he come in.

"I think you should listen to those two boys." He mused out loud and sighed. "Can you get the boy's whole name? I want to run a background." Oh, how I love you Axel my love.

"Yeah, I'll get back to you tomorrow." I sighed. "I'm sorry for calling." He sighed right back.

"You know, Zee, it was your choice to take off. It was your choice to break everything off." He trailed off and I laughed.

"You know if we ever did date, we'd end up laughing at each other." He burst into a fit of laughter and we both traded insults before I hung up on him. I fell asleep with a smile on my face. It was nice to be able to talk to someone and have to harbor no thoughts of his ass or biceps.


	11. Hysterical Hilarity

ReincarnatedPoet: Hello my freaky darlings, it has been too long. I have explanations, I have pretty words written to assuage and quell your anger, but I think them not enough, and therefore shall take your wrath.

"Zee." Who was that? Were angels in my dream? No Angel's didn't sound that husky and oh so edible. "Zee?" Why the question Mr. Angel, my name's Zee, just go with it. "Zee!" Fuck, alright already, do what you want I'm out of here.

"What?" I yelled sitting upright in bed. Forget the fact that I had only peeled my shirt off last night and slept in a pair of sliding shorts and a sports bra. Four faces stared back, two averting their eyes, two staring blatantly.

"We did tell you we were coming over before class." Pogue said, a smile on his face. Oh, sure, you letch, stare, I don't care. You have a girlfriend. You're off limits.

"No, they said they were coming by. They didn't say you were all going to break into my room and use that husky voice of yours to roust me from some pretty interesting sleep." Oh…oh shit…

"Husky?"

"Interesting?"

"Hm."

"What's roust mean?" Oh I love you Reid.

"Roust, Goldfish, it's a verb, and in this case it means to wake up from or force from sleep." I really did sound like a dictionary sometimes. My comp book fell to the floor and I left it as I walked across the room and pulled the Spencer blazer over my head.

"Do, ahhh…you want us to leave?" Tyler asked and I smiled.

"Why thank you Mr. Darcy, but it's a little late for that isn't it?" I sniffed the armpits of my blazer carefully before pulling a face and removing it from my person, going to fetch the other one from a pile on the floor.

"Do you ever do laundry?" Caleb asked, slight annoyance in his voice.

"No." I replied simply. "When have I had time? I've been to Nikki's, hit over the head, kidnapped to some creepy candle sanctuary, fell, cracked my head open, got a visit from Dad, played softball, schooled Tyler's ass in the fine art of softball, and finally got my ass handed to me by Mr. Ares." Okay I was ranting, but when you put all of those things together in the course of a couple weeks they tend to cause your brain to malfunction.

Wow.

That was a lot to swallow.

Woah.

Okay, Earth spinny.

I sat down with a huff and ran a hand through my hair, not caring if it was going every direction at the moment. "Woah." I said mostly to myself but the group heard it.

"We're sorry, if that means anything." I smiled up at Pogue, who had gotten increasingly sheepish since I snapped at him.

"Not your fault." I amended, pulling the cleaner blazer on and finding the damn skirt they make me wear.

"When did Chase touch you?" Caleb asked as I pulled the skirt up and zipped it before twisting it to face the correct direction. Hello hair tie, how are you today? Covered in hair? Oh I am sorry, I'll have a chat with my hair follicles about that.

"Last night." I sighed and pulled the knee highs on followed swiftly by the equally damnable flats.

"What happened last night?" He yelled, facing Reid and Tyler. They both flinched and I blanched. They didn't tell him. Oh. Oh goodie.

"Calm the fuck down, Legion." I yelled, saving the other two. Since when did I save Mr. Darcy? Oh well, too tired to care. "They told me he messed with Sarah." I said like it was the simplest thing in the world. Oh Caleb, you do look so confused when your head slides to the side like that. The slow blinking, however, is not attractive. "I felt a need to defend my first baseman's honor." That should have sunk in, but he looked as confused as ever. "Oh someone else explain it to him, I have to make a phone call. I grabbed my cell and had it ringing in a moment.

"Scaley's-"

"Axel, so not in the mood right now, the boy's name is…" I glanced up and waited for a response, when I got none I spoke again. "Okay, guys the last name of Mr. Ares would be…"

"Collins." Reid supplied and I smiled. Oh good puppy.

"Collins, Chase." I said into the phone and I could hear key clicking away in the back ground. "Hey Rose, it okay if I put you on speaker, I gotta finished getting dressed.

"Yeah go ahead," echoed throughout the room. A disgruntled sigh followed. "You know you could have waited for me to reply, what if I were about to declare my unending love and your piece on the side was there."

"Then you'd have told them anyway." I laughed at the phone as Reid glared at it. I winked across the room at Reid and he cocked his head to the side a bit of a smile on his face. "Say hi Reid."

"Whose Reid?" Came from the phone at the same time Reid said hello.

"Part of my bit on the side, lover." I said, pulling my hair tie out and running a brush through it. I'm not vain or anything, but rat's nest doesn't look good on anybody. I winked at Reid and he smirked.

"I did tell you if you needed anything…" He trailed off suggestively and the room was trying to keep their chuckles quiet.

"Who's that?" Axel asked, voice getting higher pitched by the second.

"Introduce yourselves while I go and brush." I held up a toothbrush and Tyler waved me out of the room.

La la la la la la la la la…I hope they get along….lala lalala lalala…Should I hope they got along…mmm orange toothpaste…yummy. It might be nice if Rosey ever decides to come and visit me. I heard laughter from the other room and my ears perked up.

"So you guys a thing?" I heard asked but I didn't hear the response.

"No shit?" Came a voice I knew had to be Reid.

"Damn." Pogue.

"I hardly think this is appropriate." Oh Caleb, you worry wart…wait a second…

"What's inappropriate?" I called but got no response besides laughter. Decided that a bit extra mint was okay if I was averting an apocalypse I went without rinsing. "What is not appropriate Axel?" I asked and heard the phone click. "Fucker." I ranted and took my phone back from Reid who was holding it, in one hand away from his body.

"We need to talk to you, Marietta." And I was in such a sunshine mood, Legion.

"About?" I asked and feigned ignorance.

"About the boy you tried to put flat on his back." Tyler admonished and I sighed. Oh well. If I'm to be defeated, the least I can do is go out with a semblance of grace.

"Okay, so I went off half cocked and got my ass handed to me." I said simply, not bothering to let my head go back to the rest of the things that had me sitting on the floor a bit ago.

"More like fully cocked." Reid admonished and I sighed.

"So I went off fully cocked and got my ass handed to me." I said heading toward the door. Huh. My door doesn't lock from the inside. I checked that the first day I was here. I was even going to tell Dad this wasn't a prison…why won't it open. Okay freaking the fuck out here.

"Mar." Mr. Darcy would you please stop with that name. "Come on, we know you're freaking."

"Yes, Mr. D. because my door won't open. It won't open and you hit me over the head with god knows what and you!" I spun about and pointed at Caleb. "Have a creeper basement." I sighed and leaned back against the door. "What do we have to talk about?" I lose. I can stomach that.

"First, we need you to keep quiet about my basement." Oh. Oh good, they are serial murders and they want me to be in on their scheme. "It's…ah…it's a family thing." I nodded silently. Why did I feel like I was about to step into some deep shit everything I was alone with the four of them? They shared odd looks and I just sighed. "And you will stay away from Chase Collins." Oh no. He did, didn't he.

"Yes, Massa, Marietta didn't mean to spill the milk, don't hit me wif the chair again!" I cried, pulling my best southern accent. Reid smiled slightly.

"That's racist." He chided and I flipped him off.

"Yeah well that shit's sexist and domineering." I growled.

"You are in a bad mood this morning." Tyler observed and I shrugged.

"I'm soar, and I'm sorry I'm snapping." I apologized quietly, not catching something Reid mumbled. Tyler cracked up and I rose an eyebrow. "What?" I asked.

"You weren't kidding about the boob bruises." Of course. They would find that funny. Pogue snickered and I blushed, jumping when a hard knock came from behind me.

"Marietta!" My roommate called. "Don't just lock the door, hang a tie or something!" I groaned and opened the door, finding it came freely this time. She came, stopped abruptly and scanned the room. "Woah, four of them…" I died. I couldn't help it. It was funny. I just died. Full out, head between my knees, ass on the ground, tears rolling down my face died. It took a moment for the rest of the group to find the humor I did. Hell, who cares, it was funny. Then again, maybe it wasn't as funny as I thought it was. Maybe it was my brains way of telling me that things were a bit rotten in the state of Denmark. I can't be sure.


	12. Reality Virus

Reincarnated Poet: Hello my freaky darlings, well as far as the last few chapters go, this one is up in the least amount of time, but considering that the last chapter was a month in coming, that's not saying much. Again, I'll take your anger as the proof of passion that it is.

Chapter

_I've decided that Ipswich really was the worst decision of my adolescent life. I mean, in a few years after I've been married, had a kid or two, gone grey at the temples and my chest has made a retreat to my ankles then maybe it won't be, but right now…right now my dear dear little comp book, it is the worst thing I've ever done. _

_They're all crazy, even my dear, sweet little Goldfish, well I've known that for some time now, but when I say crazy, I no longer mean that cute adorable get up and kiss the whole class crazy. They're…following me, and not in the good hot stalker in the corner way either. I guess I should let you see, so you don't think I've gone crazy too…_

Hmm…hmm…hm hm hm. Okay, I'm fairly sure that my roommate scarred me and the four golden boys for the rest of our lives with her comments before she left, but I can't really bring myself to care. The faint sound of the door clicking into place was all it took to set me off laughing again.

"Zee?" Oh, hello Goldfish. "Zee, you okay?" Of course, I'm wonderful Reid, how about yourself? Oh? You're going over to Caleb's to help him with a problem in his creeper basement? Okay, you go right ahead, I'm going to sit right here and—

"Marietta!" Fuck you Tyler!

"What?" I snapped and pulled myself off the floor, leaving Reid sitting there on his own. "Whatever you four had to tell me, you told me, now get out of my dorm. I need to sleep this shit off." I held the door open, but none of them moved. "Really. I swear to a God that may or may not exist that I won't tell anyone about Caleb's murderer basement or Tyler's affinity to knocking innocent pedestrians over the head, now, get the fu—" The harsh peel of my cell phone cut through the air and I had to dig though dirty clothes to find where it had found its way.

"Marietta…" I held a finger up to silence whoever it was and glanced at the caller I.D.

"City Morgue, you kill 'em we chill 'em." A chuckle sounded in my ear and I smiled slightly.

"Hey, Zee-zee."

"Axel, lover, we really do need to come up with codenames, I mean, what if someone heard you talking dirty like that?" My voice was shaky and the words came out stiff.

"Yeah, I get the feeling that our relationship is what's on your mind."

"Find anything, oh great computer lord?" I changed the subject quickly enough, perhaps too quickly.

"Of this we will speak later, Zee." He sighed and I could almost see him rubbing his forehead staring at his computer screen. "You're stalker, this Collins guy, Zee, he's dead. At least the Collins, Chase that was in attendance at Spencer Prep is dead." The faint clicking of a mouse could be heard. "Funny thing though, it's not the first time."

"Axel, no offense man, but you're losing your touch if you-"

"Look, Zee, I've ran this six ways from Sunday, the kid that you've been seeing, or at least who this kid claims to be, is dead, has been dead for nearly two months now."

"Two months?" I could hear the boys moving around in the back ground, but all I managed to hear was the word dead. Other things echoed about in my head: revenant, killed, something like being kicked out. The image of Caleb's basement flashed to the front of my mind and I shook it away. "How?"

"Well, Sherlock, I'm glad you asked." He paused. "Looks like a fire, but they never actually recovered a body, and Zee, I know you don't like orders, but…"

"What, can't be any worse than anything else thus far."

"I don't think that Caleb guy is the best guy for you to be hanging with." Of course. Of course, why doesn't the entire population of the United States step up and tell me who not to spend my time with. "I know, I know. But listen, are you alone?"

"No, love I've got two men, three women, and a wildebeest pulling their clothes on right now." Reid chuckled in the background and I sent him a mocking smile over my shoulder.

"No need to be biting. The Danvers kid, Caleb?" I nodded before I realized he couldn't see me and told him to continue. "He and his girlfriend said they saw this kid walk right into the blaze. Just crazy as sin, waltz right into the oven. I don't know about you, Zee, but that doesn't sound legit to me."

"Yeah," Something went cold in the bottom of my stomach and I scanned the room. They were all just sitting around, Reid was staring blatantly while the other three where attempting to not eavesdrop on the conversation. From the set of Legion's shoulder's I would say that he'd heard most of the conversation. "Hey, I'm late for class, I will call you tonight." I made the words clear and concise and hung the phone up.

"Zee…" I held a single finger in the air and kept staring down at my closed phone. My cheeks puffed out and my lips sucked back against my teeth. There were two ways of going about life now: one was to play naive and innocent, the other was to jump with both feet and hope that I landed on one of them.

_Now, dear reader, I break a rule of the author and draw you purposefully from my story. I want to remind you that, at the beginning, I told you I wasn't the hero in this tale. I wasn't the strong heroine that saves the day. I didn't lie to you. I told you the truth, and here is where I begin to make those decisions. You can either accept that what I'm about to tell you is fact, and not fiction, or you can stop reading and pick up something where the heroine takes all oddities in perfect acceptance and somehow manages to overcome all obstacles to be who, in a perfect world, we would all like to be. That's not me, and you knew that from the time you picked up my composition. _

"Hey, uh…sorry, but I'm running pretty late. You all have class too, so we should probably get going." I shouldered my messenger bag and pulled the door open. This time, they filed out quietly. Caleb was the last to leave, I think he was waiting for me to bring up what Axel had told me. For the first time in a week, I thought with my head, and not my libido.

Reid walked with me to the academic building but I lost him as I ducked inside my classroom. He looked hurt, standing there, waiting for a goodbye, but I didn't really care…or maybe I did care.

_Chase has been stalking me since that day. I finally asked him what he wanted, but I'm not sure I liked the answer. _

"Why are you following me?" I asked, sitting on the swing. It was a weekend. I was sitting at the park, trying to be anywhere that no one else was, but no matter where I went, Chase seemed determined to follow.

"It's not like I have much of a choice." He groused back. We'd been talking now for the better part of two hours. No matter what I did, he just wouldn't leave.

"Sure you do," I quipped, "just stand up, walk away, and keep walking until you find yourself somewhere I am not."

"Believe me, since you punched me in the jaw, I've tried." He looked over at me darkly and the dark outline of a bruise was still there, blatantly angry on his cheek.

"Shouldn't that have faded by now?" I paused for a second. Dead kid. Dead kids don't bruise. "Why'd it even hurt you at all?"

"If I knew, I'd have fixed it by now. Trust me, I've tried." He smiled over at me. It was that smile that he got when his mind wasn't quite on a normal plane. "I've tried hexing you, spelling things around you, cursing you, creation, destruction, killing you." His eyes fell and his brow furrowed like he was thinking. "I can't kill you with my power." He smiled when I shivered, his hand stretched out over the gap between us. I didn't flinch away. I'd grown used to him randomly reaching out and touching me. When he did it, it wasn't violent, rather in awe. "And I can't seem to get too far from you either."

"What?" I asked as he let his fingers play over my cheek. His eyes didn't lose their focus on the tips of his fingers, but he replied.

"I can touch you." He traced a circular pattern. "I can touch things, when I'm around you, the physical, the real, the plain and the ordinary." He shook his head. "But I can't touch my power." He jerked his hand back and stood up like he was uncomfortable, running his hands over the same dark jeans that I'd seen him wearing for the last few weeks. "I can't touch my power when I'm close to you, and when you're too far away I feel…unsolid. Like I might fall apart." He scrunched up his face for a moment, as if the idea repulsed him.

"Don't confess your undying love for me now." I joked, "You were killed by a friend of mine. I don't think they'd like me dating the dead kid they killed."

"You have to stay away from them." He said it, almost desperately. "I can't touch my power when I'm near you, and I need to stay close enough to not disappear. I have to be able to kill them, and I can't do that if I can't touch my power." He looked at me for a moment, as if the world depended on my answer.

"You're going to kill them." I stated and for a moment my brain simply processed that fact. He was dead. They were living. At that moment it seemed as though it was the most logical course: helping someone who was wronged to get revenge. He stared at me a moment.

"When you look like that, I feel more focused." Chase murmured and glanced down at his body. He didn't look anymore solid to me, but then again, he never didn't look solid to me either. I didn't take much stock to his words, instead I was watching his face change, mind still rationally running through what he'd said. "I need you unfocused." His hand shot out and slapped the side of my face, the surface of my skin tingled slightly. Indignation flared through my as I realized what he was about to do, and I braced myself. The sharp sting never came, instead, a light tickling erupted along my cheek where his hand touched.

"When you're angry, I can feel the power, even when I'm this close to you." His eyes were dark and I jumped back slightly. "If I keep you angry, I can kill them holding your hand." The words didn't register with the same calm logic that they had before, instead a cold anger passed through my stomach and out into my limbs. I pulled myself up from the swing, forcing a level of calm that I didn't know I possessed to wash through me. He frowned as the black faded from his eyes. "Bitch." He murmured and we both went back to sitting on the swings, each resigned to the other's company.

_A week passed and I saw less and less of the four boys I'd collected. It was odd, they were there all the time and then simply because I willed it, and because I had amazing weaseling abilities, they weren't. Kate and Sarah, were more difficult to escape. Coach Anderson called his first official team practice four days after I'd made my decision to play the naïve school girl It was to be a week and a half since deciding to ignore all the oddities of the group, and a week since my talk with Chase, when I decided to focus on his. Sarah and Kate attempted to talk to me at first, but it was quickly made apparent that I wanted nothing to do with the team but throw. Everyone quickly agreed that this was for the best. I just wish Collins was as easy to get rid of as the others._

"Marietta!" Coach Anderson chided as I walked on the field. I was late…really late.

"I know, I know. Sorry." I took my place on the mound and he just shook his head.

"Everyone on this team has a commitment to it, Zee, take laps. Stop when I think you've proved your commitment." Fuck me. Yes sir, old and wrinkled. You haven't won a game in five years but run the poor pitcher that might make a difference into the ground.

"Yes sir." I tucked my glove into my armpit and started taking laps, cutting through the dugout to the outside of the fence. I took my lumps quietly, as well as the looks I was getting from the first and second base players. They looked annoyed. Good. What was I going to say to them? _Sorry but this really hot dead kid keeps following me around and I didn't think that it would be a good idea to lead him to a field full of impressionable teenage girls, not to mention a place that you're boyfriends are bound to show up? _I think not. It was on lap seven that the whistle blew and I started jogging toward home plate from center, but Anderson just waved me on. Clearly practice was over, but my punishment was not. Heaving a sigh I kept up the steady jog, ignoring the way my ankles rolled just so on the uneven surface and the ache that was in my lungs. I love running. I love it so much I want to give it a hug of death.

A few players milled away from the field, taking cars. Some left on foot. Two, didn't leave. They just sat there, watching Coach Anderson watch me. It was lap nine that the Hummer pulled up alongside the field. I had never in my entire life been as grateful as I was that I was on the start of a lap and not the finish. Hopefully by the time I'm done, they'll have left. I hit home and Anderson held up a hand for me to stop.

"Care to tell me why you were late, Marietta, that's not like you." I shrugged my shoulders and rocked back and forth on my feet, hands above my head. You see, this dead guy...They're staring at me. God damn it, they just won't leave. Battle strategy? Run until they have to leave. How do I do this, you ask? Piss off the coach.

"Fuck me," I whispered and Anderson's brow furrowed as if he didn't quite catch what I said. "I'm consorting with dead people." I smiled wide. "I mean, our team could use the help. Heavy hoodoo's my thing." I almost laughed at the look on his face.

"Ten more, for that attitude." My head sagged. "Five more for being late, and the five that the team ran during practice." Jesus H. Christ, was all this guy knew how to do was run his players? My shoulders sagged. Twenty. Twenty fuckin- "You'll split them up over the next week. That's five extra a day. Grab a water and get some sleep." His face softened and I could have swore I saw a smile.

"If it's okay with you, I'm going to run some of them now." I watched the group out of the corner of my eye and the coach shrugged.

"I trust you to keep count." I nodded and forced my leaden legs into another circuit. "I also trust you to know when to say when, kiddo." Wow, did that sound like a paternal statement or what? I heard a car door slam as I rounded around to the third base side of the field. They were still sitting there, talking. It was five more laps later that I just didn't give a flying fuck any longer. My foot hit home plate and the entire muscle in that leg collapsed. I rolled onto my back with a groan and stayed down. Can one actually run themselves to death? Hm…pity I don't have the lung capacity to try. My breathing calmed and not hearing any noise relaxed.

I closed my eyes and relaxed. I would definitely sleep good tonight. I couldn't run another step if-

"Mar." Scratch that. Come on legs, come on. Oh, ow, o wow. Okay, ouch. There we go, we have a vertical. The rest were sitting on the bleachers, but for some reason, My good good buddy Mr. Darcy decided to grace me with his presence. I forced my legs into a slight jog and grimaced slightly as I made it for first base. "Marietta!" He called and snagged my elbow. "Come on, Mar, I know we freaked you out." I spun on my heel and put on a big smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about Ty." I completely forgot about the creeper basement and the dead kid that's stalking me. "I was late, Coach gave me laps, I have to get them finished." Tyler nodded and I almost tripped turning back around. I'd made it about ten steps before I realized that the footsteps were not only my own. Tyler was on one side, Reid who'd apparently jumped the fence, was on the other. "What are you doing?" I asked on reflex.

"We need to talk, you need to run your laps." Reid said simply and we ran in silence, despite Reid's mention of a talk. Three laps later Goldfish was sucking air like a goldfish. "Jesus Christ, who runs? Who does this?" My lungs ached in agreement but my head kept humming that annoying line from Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." Except it was running.

"So go." I suggested. "I have eleven more." I turned over my shoulder and watched him slow to a stop. With a smile I crashed into something hard. "Ow." I complained as my butt landed on the ground. Evidently, Tyler had had enough running as well.

"You took ten during practice, you're done now." It was an order, but it felt more like a chastisement.

"I said I have eleven more." I rolled to my feet and nearly collapsed back down. Woah. Trippy.

"Zee, I am not chasing you around this thing eleven times." Reid had crawled over and collapsed on the ground.

"You know, for a swimmer, you're really out of shape." He smiled up at me.

"Swimmer, not runner." Reid groaned and held a hand out for held standing. I watched it for a moment. His face fell slightly when I didn't haul him to his feet. Had I been a stronger individual that look would have stayed there. As it was, I gripped the pale hand just as it was retreating back with the last of its dignity.

"Well, maybe you should head back to your dorm then, get some sleep, then start running in the morning. I'd hate to make you have a massive heart attack at the ripe old age of seventeen."

"Hey, I'm in better shape than you." Reid argued and was seemingly ready for more. "I mean look at me." His t shirt was sticking to tight muscle. Did he think I didn't look? Honestly. Goldfish, I may be avoiding you like the plague, but that doesn't mean a girl is blind. "What?" He asked and I shook my head from me thoughts.

"I'm like an ox. I can go for days." Boy was I lying. "Besides, we all already know you're a sex god Goldfish." He beamed, and Tyler chuckled. We were still moving, slowly at a walk, about the fence. Reid's face fell quickly. "Now what?" I asked. I'd forgotten how comfortable it was, this game we played. It made my head itch, and not a general scalp scratching itch.

"So we've established it's not that we're not pretty to look at." What? Okay, confused here. Rewind. Slow motion. Add in the subtitles. "You're clearly not put off by any of our brand of humor."

"Humor is something to be savored, no matter the brand." I murmured, catching on to what he was asking.

"So what's the deal, Zee?" I could jump the fence and take off at a dead sprint, make it to the dorms and hide until the morning. No, I probably couldn't.

"No deal." I said simply. "I've just been busy."

"Busy communing with the dead." Tyler stated simply and I shrugged my shoulders.

"It was something my squirrel spit out." I offered.

"Chase is bothering you." Reid challenged and I stopped dead.

"What? No." I just kept walking. We were approaching home plate, where the other four were waiting. Oh goodie.

"Zee." Pogue nodded with a smile and I nodded back.

"Hello Motorcycle Boy." He smiled at the name.

"The reference is lost on him." Caleb interjected and I laughed.

"Doesn't really matter." I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, I'll see you around."

"I killed him, Marietta." Caleb said, and the words froze my feet. "It wasn't in my creepy basement. Tyler didn't hit him over the head." I didn't turn to look at any of them. "He tried to kill me. He threatened my friends." I could almost hear the regret in his voice. "Can you honestly tell me that if someone threatened the boy on the phone that you wouldn't have done the same?" I nodded but didn't turn around. "You going to let us defend ourselves or are you condemning already?" Wow, when he said it that was it sounded like I was an ass.

"Listen." I turned around and faced them. "I have a few rules about my life." I smiled slightly. "Never date a guy with frosted tips." Reid chuckled. "Never actually admit that you might be insane, and never stick around to give people the benefit of the doubt when it means your life." Caleb winced slightly. "You're a great kid, Legion." I whispered but I don't think he heard me. "I'm an eighteen year old girl that has a creepy dead kid following her around." I kicked at the dirt in the pretense of removing a rock from my spikes. "You…you guys take care of yourselves. I don't plan on talking to any popo's about your basement, and as for your request with Chase. I'll avoid him as much as I can, but he's not interested in me." I glanced up, Reid was faced away from me, as was Tyler. Pogue was watching with a blank face, and Caleb, well, it looked as though I'd convinced Reid and Pogue to jump off of Mount Rushmore.

"What's he interested in then?" Pogue asked.

"You four." I replied and spun on my heels. Just make it out of eye shot and then you can cry like a two year old. Just to the dorm. Just to the dorm.

"Marietta!" Fuck me. "Mar, come on, I'll give you a ride."

"I'll walk." I called back over my shoulder, but the roar of an engine seemed to echo in comparison. I would have ignored the rolling of tires along side of me, but the crappy cat calls coming from the passenger side was a bit much. "Jesus Fucking-"

"Jesus didn't fuck anything, Zee-zee, now get in the truck." Goldfish, sometimes I just don't like you. The backdoor swung open and I rolled my eyes as I climbed in. Might as well get a free lift, afterall.

"So." Tyler said as I slammed the door of his precious gas guzzling monstrosity.

"So what?"

"So why are you acting like we did something to threaten you?" Wow, do you sound angry Goldfish.

"I'm not…" I'm not exactly acting like that, it's more like I feel like that. "Just, leave me alone, huh?"

"Why?" Jesus, Mr. Darcy, you and I didn't even get along until a week ago.

"Because, he told me to tell you to!" I yelled. Frustration thy name is Tyler Simms. "Alright? You happy? He told me to leave you alone. To back the fuck off. The four of you'll be dead in a month anyway!" I pitched my glove into the windshield. It hit and bounced back, landing on the dash before sliding down into the cup holder. The Hummer had stopped and my chest heaved like I'd actually finished the last nine laps.

"Zee-"

"Just shut the fuck up, Reid, damn it!" The car went quiet. Sometimes, when I read or write scenes where people get quiet, I imagine someone farting. I always said that if I ended up in a situation like this I'd just fart and laugh it all off. Note to self: buy some beans. I sighed and leaned forward, head falling into my hands. "Listen." Yeah, Zee, real smooth, they're already listening. "Chase is…he's dangerous. I couldn't tell you how, but I know he is. I can see it, feel it, when he's around me, and he wants you all dead, whether he stays dead or not." I took a deep breath and reached forward, snagging my glove back. "Have you ever seen the movie Domino?" I asked and after a moment Reid turned slightly in his seat.

"You know, random isn't just another word with you is it?" He asked and I just blinked at him.

"Her goldfish dies and she says that you should never invest too much emotion in one thing." Reid stared at me like I was insane, but Tyler's eyes darting away from the rear view told me that he understood. "I've changed it a bit. Never invest emotion in things that you know are going to disappear." I stared down at my glove for a moment. "I'm leaving anyway." I murmured and scrubbed a hand over my face. "I can't throw like I should any more, I'm too old and too beat up. My grades are less than stellar. I'm leaving as soon as my dad can come and pick me up."

"So you're just going to run away?" Tyler asked and I sighed as the look of betrayal I was getting from Reid. "You're just going to pack up and leave, while your friends, the only ones who have given a fuck about you from this school, might die." I ducked my head in shame. A shame that seemed to seep from lies rather than actions.

"Yes." I said quietly. My cell rang and I fished it from my bra strap before throwing the door of the vehicle open. I left them there, watching me, and walked away toward the door, flipping my phone open.

"Hey." I murmured into the receiver. The silence that came from the other end annoyed me for a moment.

"You alright?" Finally came and I sighed.

"Yes."

"Ahuh, that information, for your report?" Oh, Axel, how I do love how naïve you are- "What do you really need it for?" I stopped for a moment and just stared at the phone.

"A report, we're doing a mythology section, and I wanted to write it on the undead." I explained as I had before.

"That's the thing. You're talking about ghosts, not the undead, and not just any ghost, a ghost with powers, and thoughts of revenge." He paused a moment. "Listen, Zee, if you're stressing, just tell me and I'll write this off as you freaking, but if you really think you're seeing a ghost or whatever you want to call it, maybe you need some serious meds." I might have laughed. I really might have. But I didn't.

"Yeah, just joking, funny huh?" I said quickly and started walking again.

"Listen, Zee-"

"No, sorry, it wasn't that funny, I gotta go." I snapped my phone shut and jumped when I looked up to see Chase smiling at me. "What do you want?" I asked, trying to will myself to be calm, as I had been doing for the past hour.

"I almost had you back there, in the truck." He smiled a little victory smile. "You better watch that temper of yours. Never know what it's going to do." He walked next to me in a companionable silence and disappeared down a different hallway when he reached my floor. I'm not quite sure where he disappears to when he's not with me, but according to him, it can't be far. Stupid creepy dead kid.

It was three hours later that a thump sounded on my door, followed by a string of curses in a very familiar voice. I opened the door slowly, staring cynically down at the boy on the floor.

"You can walk through walls, no need to go all gallant on my now and knock." I quipped and he shook his head in a "Yeah Right" fashion.

"Wasn't going for gallantry, was actually going for full on rude entering." He rubbed his chin for a moment and stood up, eyes widening. His hand came out and slowly he touched the door, pushing it open. His eyes flew up to mine and they darkened. "You're like a virus." He growled and I smiled.

"A virus that's making you corporeal again." I quipped.

"Exactly my point." He growled and walked past me to take up residence on top of my desk, a place he liked to frequent. He glanced around the room and took in the packing boxes, all full and taped up barring two that contained my daily essentials.

"Uh…where do you think you're going?" He asked, dumping the open box of my clothes on the bed. Socks, underwear, and bras fell onto the mattress. He fished a pair of underwear out and held them up mockingly. "Really?" He asked and I took them back, stuffing them into the box.

"Hey, I don't want a thong riding up my ass when I'm pitching." He nodded and kept sifting through absent mindedly. "And it's we." I said, taking the underwear after he was done poking at the holes in my socks and putting them back in the box.

"I figured that was the plan." He sighed and nudged me with his shoulder. I felt a slight push and then the tickling that told me he wasn't completely solid today.

"Illinois." I supplied and he groaned.

"Do you know how boring that state is?" He asked and I laughed. Sometimes it was easy with Chase too. A little too easy.

"I grew up there, of course I know." He sat down on the bed and I could make out the outline he made in the bedding. When he wasn't thinking about them he seemed to be more real. His face lightened and he was actually decent to talk to.

"If we're going to skip out on your high school education let's go somewhere fun. Vegas or Mexico City." He looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

"I would have thought you'd be trying to convince me to stay, you're plan for revenge and all." The indentation he made on the bed lessened and he frowned.

"I can't exactly kill them with a punch to the face, and as long as you're calm and far enough away from them I can't even do that." He almost seemed to be floating on the top cover. "So I figure, why not have some fun, you know?" He sank back into the bedding. "I never had any fun while I was alive." His brow furrowed. "I was always confused, and angry." I watched him as he spoke, he seemed to be lost in his own little world.

"You're still angry." I supplied and he smiled.

"You would be too if it happened to you." He smiled at his lyrical genius. "Maybe I'm tired of being angry. Maybe hating Caleb isn't going to get me anywhere."

"Why'd you threaten them?" I asked and sat down next to him. It was odd, but he was comforting when he was like this.

"I was alone all my life. They've had each other to grow up with, to explore things with, to learn with." Okay, something was definitely going over my head. "It wasn't fair, and I blamed…blame them." He amended slowly.

"Why?" He sat up quickly and walked toward the door. "I'm going to go for a walk, try and stay calm so I don't get too far away and suddenly shatter into a million little pieces because you're blow dryer won't work."

"I don't use a blow dryer." I said as if it were the most simple thing in the world.

"Then what happened last time?" He asked, with a raised eye brow.

"Well you see, in Chemistry, we were doing this lab with a NiTi metal and when you heat it up it straitens out, coolest shit ever. I borrowed a dryer from the neighbor and I couldn't get it to work." His head fell to the side for a moment and he screwed his eyes up. "You look like a cross between Pogue and Reid when you do that." He scowled immediately and was out the door, slamming it behind him.

"Nice talking with you Chase, come back anytime, it's not like I can stop you." I rolled over on the bed and curled up into a ball, trying to fall asleep. Something kept dancing around in my head, and it took me a moment to place it as a smell. I sniffed the comforter where Chase had been and sat up. Cologne. It smelled like cologne. I stared at the door for a moment before I lied back down. Well, Mr. Ares, you're seeming to be a bit more real every day. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.


	13. Brain Burn

Reincarnated Poet: *Peeks about the corner shielding herself with her calculus textbook* Ahem…hello? Anybody still out there. *dodges an apple* Oh good you are still reading. I do apologize, but in a fit of stupidity I signed up for four of the toughest courses one can take at a college at the same time and haven't had enough time to write my papers let alone write fanfiction. But…I have the weekend off, and am determined to pound out at least TWO count them TWO chapters by the end of the night. The first is rather short, but I need it to set the story. Two chapters. This I vow. They won't both make an appearance tonight, as that's tacky, but they will appear in quick succession. Also, as many of you know, its NaNoWriMo. As penance, I have decided to make this fiction my NaNo project as well as a different Supernatural story as well as at least three flash fics for my Songs to the Grave Series. (For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is National November Writers Month, an unholy month where writers lose their minds and write an entire novel in one month). Let it begin.

R.P.

_The ride back to Illinois was silent with my Dad in the driver's seat and a ghost in the truck bed, but I felt like my mind was buzzing all the same. I was angry, and because of that Chase was more real. He'd even moved a bag himself to the truck without my Dad noticing. He'd given up the idea of Mexico about a week ago, but he seemed almost eager to leave Spencer behind. No matter what he threatened he seemed to be more sorry for making me leave than anything. He'd even let me talk to Axel by myself. It was more than I'd expected._

"Go." He'd said as I eyed the door to my friend's house warily. "I'll stay here." As a grand show of restraint he sat down upon the sidewalk, crossing his legs out before him. Oh, thank you, Chase, I'm so glad you decided to let me off the leash. I rolled my eyes and knocked on the door. It took a moment before it was pulled open, but it only took a split second for me to hug him. There he was, in all his glory. Rumpled sleep clothes too young for his age. Shirt half unbuttoned in a sad attempt to make up for the design. His pale skin briefly reminded me of Reid, but his smile was all Caleb, warm and wise and pulling me in like gravity. I dropped my bag and hugged him, trying not to acknowledge that his arms felt like Pogue's or that he tucked my under his chin protectively like Tyler had the only time he'd even given me a hug. I squashed the fact that I knew I was comparing him to the people I'd left at Spencer. I squashed it because it hurt.

"Rosey." I murmured and he just glanced hard over my shoulder a moment, closing the door and pulling me inside to talk.

"You okay?" He'd asked me before tossing me a Coke. "No weird powerful ghosts to write papers on?" He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and I flinched before shaking my head. Chase was visible right there, through the window, where Axel was staring, but he didn't say a word.

"No, I told you I was joking." I forced a smile. Of course I was joking Axel, what would I have been doing? Telling the truth? Going insane? I think not!

"Funny thing that." He mused, still staring out the window. "This ghost of yours, how did you picture him?" He asked after a pause. I watched him a moment. He pushed the curtain back a bit more, basking in the sunlight.

"Oh, you know, something out of Twilight." I laughed as he glared at me. "Tall and handsome, glittery, not transparent. Oh, he didn't walk through walls either." Defense mechanism one: fire!

"Really?" He asked, stretching out the "e". "Because I figured he'd have brown hair and a fair complexion." He looked at me hard before turning back toward the window with a deliberate movement. "He'd wear dark jeans, a dark brown leather jacket, and he'd flip off my window because he didn't think I could see him sitting on my sidewalk."

"Don't take the rude gestures personally, that's just Chase." Wait…wait a sec…I stood up too quickly, knocking the tall kitchen stool over as I moved to his side to stare out the window and sure enough Chase was flipping off Axel until I appeared. He sheepishly lowered his hand and smiled.

"Adorable." Axel mused and went to pick up the stool. "Sit." He gestured at the chair and I complied. No one fought with Axel when he used that tone of voice, not even me.

It took three hours. Three long hours of game playing followed by soul baring comparison of fact and fiction before Axel let me leave. He looked right through Chase when we left the house, and to his credit he didn't even glare when Mr. Ares make a rude comment about how long we'd taken.

_I thought he'd calm down a bit, when he got away from Spencer. I thought maybe his demeanor would change and he'd just slip away from reality into the realm of the dead, where he should be, but he doesn't. I don't know what to do anymore. He keeps talking about powers and a Covenant, about Caleb and Reid, about Pogue and Tyler. About their families. About their powers. About their secret lives. He seems calmer when I don't bring them up. He seems calmer when my pictures are put away. They're in my drawer now, and they'll stay there, for as long as I can stand them to be there. _

"Zee." Came from somewhere in the clouds of my dreams. "Zee, come on, I can't touch things when you're sleeping." Oh, good lord, what are you two? "Zee, its ringing, make it stop." Hm…now that you mention it. Oh, sunlight, where hast thou been all my life? I sat up quickly and snagged my cell phone from the bedside table in my room, flipping it open without bothering to check the caller ID. I hit the ignore button and smiled across the room at my own personal ghost.

He had become more solid with our move from Spencer. Color flooded his cheeks this morning and the desk creaked as he stood up. "You seem solid today." I mused as he stalked across the room.

"I told you that you were a virus." He stared at me a moment before his eyes softened. "Thank-you." Huh? Well you're welcome Mr. Ares, but I'm not quite sure what I did.

"You kept me here." I really have to stop saying those things out loud.

"You don't." He smirked when I scrunched my eyes up.

"Quit that." I growled and his shadow fell across me from the window. Shadow, cool. Must remember to make a note of that for the next time I get angry. My cell phone sounded again in the still of the morning, but I quickly silenced it again. "I bet you could leave town without me today." I smirked at his wince. He'd not been able to leave the confines of my home town without me since the move. He was weaker, he'd said, since he was farther away from the place he died in. I wasn't sure I believed him.

"I bet I could." He agreed, staring at his shadow as he flexed his hand a few times before making an obscene shadow puppet display. The phone rang again and he growled, picking it up and throwing it at me. "Answer it." Good lord, how many times are people going to tell me what to do?

"Hey," I asked more than said as I stared at Chse.

"So you left." Goldfish. Oh, now I feel guilty for hitting the ignore button.

"Yeah." Oh bedcovers, aren't you fun to look at.

"Who is it, Zee?" Chase asked from across the room, still studying his shadow.

"You could have said goodbye." I rolled my eyes. Sure, Reid, I could have strolled by your room and bid you adieu while Chase attempted to dash your brains against the wall with his mind. Memories of seeing him do just that with a picture frame flashed in front of my eyes.

_I can't explain what I saw today, and I'm not sure I even want to be able to. Mr. Ares is dangerous, I've known that, but he's never done more than walk through a wall or try and slap me before. I've never seen anything shatter like that in my life. One second it was whole and sitting on my desk and the next it was against the wall in millions of little pieces. _

_Chase had walked in while I was packing the last of my things for the trip home. A picture I'd taken nearly a month ago was still on my desk, staring up at any who would look with a quiet happiness. Reid stood there, one shoulder leaning against the wall of Spencer while the other was draped against my chest. We had been happy that day. Laughing and joking while we sat and waited for the others. I think that's what set Chase off. I didn't see him for a few days after that, and I think it was for both of our nerves. _

_He never even touched the picture. I can't let him stay here. I can't let him stay close enough to them to shatter them like that…or to shatter himself like that. _

"No, I couldn't." I answered finally.

"You alright?" Came over the receiver with a biting edge to it. Oh, goodie, I'd pissed Goldfish off royally. No, Reid, I'm actually being held by knifepoint against a wall at the moment by a rabid mugger, but I'll call you back as soon as he breaks my nose with the butt of the knife.

"I'm fine." Chase groaned and went through the door, careful not to make noise as he left. The first time the door had slammed my dad had ran up the steps to my room to make sure I was alright. We didn't want that happening too often.

"I'll be outside when you're done talking to the people that killed me." He said loud enough for Reid to hear before shutting the door.

"He's trouble, Mar." I heard in the background and sighed. Did everyone have to tell me to stay away from the people I care about? Something bit at the back of my mind at that. Quiet, gnawing, but there none the less.

"Hey, Ty." I said quietly, still focused on the mouse-like scratching at the back of my brain. "You should tell a girl if she's on speakerphone." I said. God was my brain burning.

"Sorry, Zee-zee." Oh hello Nameless. "It's for the best." For the best? Stop a sec, guys, you really need to stop sending dialogue ten feet over my head.

"Stay upstairs, Marietta." Oh, okay, Legion, I'll just hunker down here on my bed and…wait…stay up here on my bed. Stay up here on my bed. Stay upstairs.

"How do you know where I am?" Maybe there's a camera. Note to self: check all the holes in the ceiling times for tiny cameras. When no answer came from the other end I repeated myself until a dial tone met my ears. Throwing the phone across the room I let out a snarl of indignation before a cry of pain. God, I'm burning. Oww. Oww. Oww. Jesus Fucking Christ. Make it stop.

Clawing at the back of my head I stumbled off the bed toward the window to throw it open. The cold air of an October morning met my face but it did little to douse the fire. Please, Daddy, make it stop. I tried a coherent thought, but it died quickly as white heat erupted across my eyes. The last thing I heard above the roaring of fire was my own screams, echoed from out the window.


	14. Warlocks of Conception

ReincarnatedPoet: Hello all, this is the aforementioned update that I promised in the last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed the previous chapter. This story can go one of two ways, and I would appreciate any feed back that you may have upon which direction you want to see this story going in. Basically here's the skinny:

Good strong ending to a story with no possibility of a sequel. Sad, but fitting.

Weaker ending to a story that leaves a possibility of a sequel. Happier, less fitting ending to the story.

Let me know!!! Or my evil mind pixies will take the path that they see fit.

~R.P.~

Oh god, just let it end. Just let me curl up into a ball and die. It's over anyway, I'm in too much pain to ever live again. Just let me—

"Marietta, knock it the fuck off!" Owwie. Owie. Owwie. I'm sorry Mommy…wait…Tyler? I cracked my eyes open for a moment, trying to keep the swirl of light from blinding me, but it was no use. All I could see was a faint set of shadows looming in the light. God Tyler, get over here so I can hit you for being loud.

"Zee?" Ughh…Axel, please come give me a hug, please, please, please? Oh, come give me a hug, please? "Zee!" Ouch, owwie. Don't yell, just hug me. "Zee, come on baby girl." I cracked my eyes again and it was just Axel there, crouched over me. "There you are, come on." He put his hand on the side of my face.

"Where's?" I sat up slightly, searching the room. Where was…

"Where's who Zee?" He asked, propping me up on his knee.

"Wasn't…" Ugh, I am not pulling a fucking Twilight.

"I haven't seen your ghost friend since I came up the stairs." Axel tried to decipher my broken thoughts. "Did he hurt you?" Oh silly boy, Chase wasn't even…wait…

"He's not here?" I tried sitting up on my own. Ooohhh, bad idea. The fire in my head had lessened to a slightly annoying burn, almost a tingle, but I was achy.

"Haven't seen him." Axel rubbed a hand over his face with a sigh. "You're killin' me here, Zee-zee." I smiled a bit between throbs of pain. "You wanna tell me why you were on the floor?" He asked after a short silence.

"I was going to ask you if you were in the habit of sneaking up on girls and bashing them over the head, but I guess that's a no then." He clipped my shoulder with the back of his hand and glared at me.

"If you hadn't have just fainted, I would have hit you in the head." He helped me to my feet and I stared out the window, glaring at the sun as it sank to just the angle that would shine through my window and blind me.

"Where is he, Marietta?" He asked finally. Hmm…He should be here. He was going walking. Walking about somewhere while I sat idly up in my room talking to…wait…I was talking to someone. Reid. I was talking to Reid. And Tyler. And Pogue…and Caleb. Caleb told me to…

"I was talking to Caleb, and he knew…he knew I was in my room." I trailed off and leaned against the window sill, bracing my head against the wall. If it was against something that didn't move, maybe the world would stop spinning like it did.

"Mhmm." Axel said, sitting down on the edge of my bed as if he'd finally decided I wasn't going to collapse. "I have a theory." He cocked an eyebrow and waited for me to reopen the eyes I wasn't aware I'd closed.

"Go on." I reclosed my eyes and hummed under my breath, trying to erase the sound of Tyler yelling at me from my mind. He'd been here. I'd heard him. I could have smelt him had the damned boy been closer.

"When you research those names together, Garwin, Simms, Danvers, Parry, and Putnam, you come up with quite a few different sources, but they all tell the same story." He paused a moment, and his silence made me crack my eyes. He was staring up at the ceiling, eyes searching back and forth as if trying to put together the pieces of a puzzle by just watching. "You know, some people ignore the things that are in the shadows." He stared at his hands now.

"Mmm…" I sighed when it because clear that he wasn't going to continue. "Like ghosts." He glanced at me a moment before going back to the ceiling.

"They ignore what they deem impossible." He said it quickly. "But it's impossible for me to be able to completely erase any record that you exist with a low speed internet connection and a used laptop, but I can." He glared hard at the ceiling. "It's difficult, for someone as rooted in science as I am, to believe in things that aren't real, and the only reason I think I do believe is because of you all those years ago, with your tales of epic battles and demon lords." He smiled over and I cracked a smirk back.

"Yu Yu Hakusho is real, damn it and if anyone tells you any different, they're lying." He smiled over at me and I sighed. "Continue."

"You're friends, they keep coming up with a different type of…lore." He paused a moment. "Witchcraft of the real world. I work magic on the computer pathways, they work it in the air and of the flesh." He leaned back against the mattress. "And your Chase is the same. That's why he has the ability to stick around, but I think the reason he needs you around is because you still believe in the stupid little stories."

"Plausible." I hummed and tried to stand up. "Where's Chase?" I asked finally, gaining purchase in my efforts.

"If I had to guess?" I managed a nod and a few weak steps toward him. "Ipswich. When you passed out, I think he would have been forced back to where his body rests." It made sense, in that odd, horror film kind of way. Hmm…I could check. It wouldn't be right to leave him to haunt my boys…the boys, not my boys…leave him to haunt the boys. He'd wanted to kill them before, but I'm not sure if he still…what if he killed them? What if they died? A cold, angry shiver ran up my spine at the thought. I didn't want them dead. I didn't want that weight back in Ares' eyes.

I'd seen in there, the first time I saw him, but since it had left, as though he were lighter for it. Killing them would put it back there. "Can we—"

"Yeah." Axel whispered and ducked his head. "We're going." He sighed. "You couldn't let it go?" I shook my head and he sighed again, as though the decision hurt him somehow.

"You don't have to come." I supplied but he stared at me as though I were insane.

"Yeah, and then I'd be sitting here, on your bed, waiting to hear if my theories are based completely on conjecture." He smiled down at me a moment and I glanced out of the corner of my eye at him. It was easy, with Axel, sometimes, just like it was easy with the others. It had always been easy with him, and that was the reason we were still friends. He didn't even have to ask what to pack as he threw a set of clothes into my bag and grabbed my journal. He knew I needed it. He knew it would be with me for the rest of my life, always did, and he always would.


	15. The People I Know

Reincarnated Poet: Hello all, this is the second to last chapter and will be a bit longer than the others (this is also why this chapter has been so long in the making. I'm now officially done with classes until the middle of January so I plan on getting this story finished and being posting my next story which is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Supernatural crossover. I hope to see some of you over in that fandom! Anyway, I think people were leaning more toward the happy sequel ending, but I'm not so sure at this point in time. That's what I'm going to go with, but I don't think it really fits. I have written a story that ends that way before (The Conduit) and am having a bit of a hard time finishing the sequel (which I will be posting at the same time that I post the crossover). Hope to hear from you!

~R.P.~

We've been driving for ages! Ages I tell you! And…I have to pee. I tell him this and he laughs at me. What's a girl got to do to get a bathroom break around here? "Ughhh…Axel…" He's ignoring me. "Axel!"

"What! For the thousandth time, what?" Tehehheee…I got under your skin. I got under your skin….Oh, right, there was a reason for the pestering.

"I have to pee." He rolled his eyes and glanced at passing road signs in the darkness.

"If you wait thirty more miles you'll be peeing in a Spencer dorm." He hit the gas as we passed a rest stop. Bastard.

"I am not a bastard, my mother and father were married when I was born."

"I didn't call you—"

"But you thought it." Touche. "You'll be seeing your ghost soon." He said into the windshield.

"Don't sound so excited." I quipped, trying to stay calm. It wasn't as though I was worried about him exactly. I was worried about what he might have done. What could have happened to all of them. "Zee?" Wha?"

"He'll be fine, right?" I asked before I'd even known I'd thought it. "They won't hurt him."

"Zee-zee." He let a hand come out and pat me on the head. "It doesn't really matter, either way, does it?" Whaahahat? I tried to catch his eyes, but he was determined to just study the windshield. "Could you hate them, if they killed him? He tried to kill them first." Yes. I could, yes I could. I could be angry with them, and scared of them…and I…I could. Damn. "Could you hate him, if he killed one of them?" Could I? I don't know. Pogue and Caleb could take care of themselves. Reid was too mean to die. Could I hate him if he killed Mr. Darcy?

Hell yes I could hate him. I could hate him more than I'd ever hated anything in my life, and I really, really hated pink. "Well?" Axel asked, glancing at me for a moment as he turned off of the interstate.

I'm not answering you. I refuse. You aren't right. Nope. Not one bit.

"Zee. I already know." You know what? That the Yankee's are going to win the pennant? That I'm a Libra? "You're not going to come back with me. You're going to walk into that building and you're going to realize that your ghost is gone. You're going to be angry. You'll yell and scream. You'll stay." He turned and smiled at me and I swear it was the saddest smile I've ever seen.

"No." I turned back to the windshield. He was wrong. Damn it he was wrong. It was quiet the rest of the way to Spencer. Not grave quiet. Not deathly quiet. It was uncomfortable quiet. Thinking quiet. Painful quiet. We were in the parking lot. Just driving in circles. I don't think he wanted to park the car. If he did, we were here, and we were both going to have to face the answers to a few different questions. It was raining, but then, when wasn't it raining. Stupid rain. All ominous and…and…rainy. He turned in a particularly wide circle and I threw the door open, jumping out. I couldn't help the laughter that echoed from my chest. It wasn't funny laughter. It was hysterical, but I stopped quickly. The car drifted slowly forward, two doors wide open.

Oh, hello Axel. Axel? Why are you not parking the car? Oh, the car's parking itself…halfway across the lot. Shit. Come back car! "What the hell is your problem?" I yelled, running after the vehicle, catching up and quickly stepping into the driver's seat and putting it in park. By the time I got out Axel was hysterical. Oh screw you, douche bag. I kept walking past him as he laughed at the look on my face. Really sometimes the people I know can be such children.


	16. Everything I've Got

_Reincarnated Poet: Hi guys. Life. Well we all know what that is right? Can't say as I have any excuses for this but this is the last chapter of Not The Hero, we'll have to wait and see what ending the story told, because to be honest with you this thing completely and totally wrote itself. I sat down at teh computer at 7 and just blanked. This is what occured, and upon rereading it I found that it wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was what was right, you know? So this is rough and a bit off kilter for this story, and there will (probably) be a sequel as I won't be a total douchebag like Kripe was with Supernatural (ahem...sorry still in morning over Sammy's "death"). Not to compare my story to Kripke's or anything near that. He's a freakin genius. Anyway, this is it, the last installment. Let's see where fate takes us kiddies. _

_Hey, I'm going to assume you, being her journal, know that this is not Zee. Normally I wouldn't do something like this, writing not being my strong suit, but there were empty pages. So I'm going to tell you a story, a story that has a beginning, a middle, and as all stories must, an end. Maybe you'll understand that I'm not the hero in this story. I'm a subcharacter in a subplot in a subfloor of a basement garage. I can't change the story. Some things just tell themselves and when they're true…you can't make them lie. _

_Zee wasn't a patient person. I've never in my whole life known her to wait for anyone, especially me. That's what makes it so damned difficult to believe, for me at least. Aw, fuck it…I'm not a scribe. I'm not a storyteller. I can't regale you with words like she could. So I'm going to give it to you straight with plain English and no double talk. Here goes…_

Oh shit…oh shit oh shit oh shit…fuck. No really, fuck. I can't exactly just march up there all howdy do and say, "oh by the way did you steal my ghost?" That would be completely off my game.

Such a pretty door, all wooden and grainy. I let a finger run across the wooden stain of Reid and Tyler's door. I decided that's what they had to be for this to work out right: Reid and Tyler, not Goldfish and Mr. Darcy. _Thump!_

_You see I can't really tell a story very well without reverting to how she'd have thought about it. I keep trying to capture her inner Zeeness, but I keep drawing up short. And look now I've left you waiting at an important part and not only broke the flow of the story but I've also gone and let my attention to details overpower her attention to the useless. I just couldn't stand there anymore, you know? She'd been staring at the damned thing for half an hour, just watching the whorls in the wood, so I did what she couldn't. I knocked. _

No. Bad Axel, bad, sit. No! Don't hit the door again, maybe they didn't hear you the first—_thump! _Shit. Something moved on the other side. Mayhap it was a squirrel…a stealthy squirrel that had managed to parajump from the closest tree onto the windowsill and then use his ninja like skills to slip under the window unnoticed and approach the door. No, a squirrel couldn't have reached the door knob, and I'm not sure even a squirrel could be as cute as Mr. Darcy…

As…big as Mr. Darcy…yes, I didn't mean cute, I meant big. Squirrels were cute, not Mr. Dar—Tyler. Damn it.

_She was doing that thing again. Just staring at this guy. Sure he was good looking, but I can't believe she just went googoo gaga over some blue eyed backstreet boy. So I'm jealous, kiss my ass, thank you very much. She was my ZeeZee, mine, and they fucking took her and made her theirs. Fucking two faced mother..._

"Mar." He's staring at me. Why's he staring…damn it stop staring its not polite! "Mar!" Ooof…good to see you too Tyler, hun, but Mar's gotta breathe. Tyler? Ty? Code blue, call the paramedics, I'm going under! Gah! Ahhaaa ahhhaaaa! Oxygen how I love you with your eight electrons and your electronegativity. How I'll never pollute you again!

"What are you doing here?" Oh, now that I can breathe again you expect me to talk, well I have news for you Mr. Dar—Reid? Reid! Oh, come here you adorable piece of man flesh! I must hug you! Oh, don't tickle. Don't! Gah! Don't!

"Mariette?" Oh, well hello Pogue my boy, have you met my ghost? I see you have, please quit drawing funny lines on his bare chest…hmmm…Ares you do have some nice pectorals. Wait…

"Excuse me, but what the fuck?" Oh, Axel, how you always do ask the best questions.

_Okay, so she probably didn't actually think that, but she should have. It was a damn good question. Fucking pervert tying the guy up and painting him with his own blood. Fucking kinky son of a bitch. Freakin' weird if you ask me. _

"Who the hell are you?" Oh, Reid, down boy! I grabbed Reid's arm and forced him and Tyler back into the room, giving Axel a stare as he just stood in the hallway. Come on boy, if you don't come in the door will shut in your face. Silly silly boy.

He stepped forward and pushed me behind him. Silly boy, no one here will hurt good ol' Zee. Nope, not even Legion whose looking particularly murderous at the moment. As a matter of fact…I watched Pogue, Reid and Tyler as the shock slowly wore off and they all had the same set to their faces. An angry cross between "he ran into my knife ten times" and "I fired one warning shot into his head". Chase was the only one who didn't have that particular look on. He almost looked…Mr. Ares? Nameless get the hell off Mr. Ares!

I tried to push him off, but let's be honest…Nameless is like a brick wall covered in satin. "Marietta, just calm down." Oh, you calm the fuck down, you're cutting my ghost!

"Chase, get out of here!" Wait…why are you laughing again?

"Oh, ZeeZee, you really are a virus." He stopped laughing long enough to jerk against the handcuffs and let me see as they bite into skin, blood oozing up beneath the welts. "Fucking reality virus made me real solid, Zee, don't let me forget to thank you for that." Oh, I won't, Mr. Ares, don't you worry…wait…was that sarcasm? I'm so proud! I knew you had it in you from the very beginning! Wait…was that sarcasm at mwah?

"Marietta you and your friend need to leave, now." Legion, you should know by now that telling me what to do has never been the way to get anything done. "Now, Marietta, you aren't going to like what you see if you stay."

"Zee let's go." Axel tugged on my arm and I looked around between the boys in the room. They were serious. Dead serious. Dangerous candle slasher film basement serious. Like the type of serious that happens just before someone does something they know is masochistic but can't stop.

"Caleb, just let him go. You can do that right? You can just let him go? He'll leave. Right, Chase, you'll take off and not come back." Can't breathe. Can't breathe. Lungs burning. Burning. Burning. Chest hurts, hurts so bad.

"Get her out of here, Tyler." That was Pogue, I'm sure of it, but I can't really understand the words. He's telling someone something, but I can't make it out.

"Caleb, just let him leave. Let him up." Tyler grabbed my arm and the pain in my chest disappeared. "Fucking let him go!" Wow, was that me?

_I hadn't ever seen her like that before. Backed into a corner and defensive. It made me sick when she tore her arm away from the blue eyed boy she seemed to adore so much and launched herself at the big guy on the bed. It was pathetic, and she hadn't ever been pathetic in her life. He grabbed her arms before she could push him off. It would have been funny if they would have laughed. All a big joke, right? Fucking wrong. Fucking wrong when they pushed her into my arms and pushed us both out the door with orders to wait in the lobby downstairs. Fucking wrong that I listened. _

They're going to kill him. I giggled. Tear little bits and pieces out of his skin and his soul and hide him away in Caleb's basement. Can you kill a dead man? Pretty tiles. All blue and silvery marble. They go this way and that way and just when you think you have them all tracked down and into a pattern they fly up and down again and blow it all to shit. Fucking pattern. Mother fucking pattern.

I slammed my foot down onto the marble tile, and smashed my fist into the armrest. He was my ghost. He hadn't hurt them. He couldn't hurt them if he was far far away from them. They couldn't kill him. He wasn't theirs to kill; he was mine, damn it! I can feel him in my head. He's afraid. Rosey says I'm going insane. Maybe I am. Breathe. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six…I had to calm down. When asthmatics freaked they slowed their breathing with a heart beat. Breathe. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Breathe. Boom Boom. Breathe. Breathe. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Boom. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe

Fuck. Christ.

Fucking stop it Axel, I am not in the mood for you to be grabbing my arms and yelling at me. Mr. Ares is afraid, and I can feel it. I can taste it. It tastes like vinegar. Vinegar chips make me puke…Oh god. Breathe…Just breathe.

"Zee." Axel just stop it. "Zee come on, lets get out of here." Stop pulling on me Axel, just stop it. "Zee!" Ouch, mother fucker. I swear to god I'll slap back.

_So I hit her, sue me. She was freaking the fuck out and I can't stay calm if she's not calm. Freaking me out with her gasping and going into spasms. What else was I supposed to do? I was so far in over my head that I couldn't even see the top. I was afraid. I'm not afraid anymore. _

I swear I can feel Pogue's fingers drawing weird symbols on my skin. It's his skin, but I can feel it on mine, like phantom pains. My heart had an echo for some reason and it just kept getting faster and faster as the fingers kept drawing makeshift patterns. Maybe it was comforting? Feeling those fingers? Like hell.

Boom-oom

Boom-oom

Boom-oom.

Boom.

He was gone. I could feel it. He just wasn't there anymore, that presence. That annoying as hell itch in my brain that told me he was there. They killed him. Those fingers went away and it all sank in.

Boom.

Wait, why's everything so…

Boom.

Oh god, I feel sick.

Boom.

Stop spinning. Just stop it.

Boom.

I swear my heart was going to deafen everyone in the area. It was loud and angry and calling out to someone that was still there. Someone that was upstairs. It wanted someone to come down and wrap me in warm friendly arms and tell me that it was all going to be okay. I hated it. Fucking assholes making me feel so safe and then…just…nothing.

_She ran. She ran faster than I've ever seen her run in my life. Took my keys and was gone through the doors just as the backstreet boy came down the set of stairs, grim determination etched into his pretty little face. Fucking assholes. _

_That's what I'm sure she was thinking. Fucking assholes. They tried chasing her, Tyler took off through the double doors of the dorm building the second he saw that she wasn't sitting with me. The others were on his heels. I'm still not sure how the rest of them knew. Knew she'd left. Knew she was trying to run. I think they even knew before they left the doors that she was long gone and wasn't coming back. They chased her. Chased her off, and I swear to god if I could let myself hate her for leaving I would because she wasn't just leaving them. _

_Anyway I'm getting personally involved in the story and Zee would tell me that a good storyteller doesn't get involved with their plot. Every good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. This is my end. This is the last I can tell you. I can't let you in on any behind the scenes secrets. I can't tell you that she's safe, or that she's alive. I can't tell you that she didn't go back and find them. I think she will, because when I asked her in the car if she could hate them she answered me with a yes. She lied. She lied faster than I've ever seen her lie in my life. Maybe she'll show up on my doorstep, crying and alone. Probably not. I'm kidding myself to think that she would. She might show up and punch me, but she wouldn't show up and cry._

_She was a pitcher, and as such she had certain personality traits that made her who she was. She was a pusher. She would give you everything she had in one second, and in the next she'd give you more. As such, it stood to reason that eventually everything she had would actually be everything she had. On the mound it was energy, it was sweat and blood, but in life it was other things, and I think this time she pushed and found that she just didn't have anything else to give so she pulled herself out. That's it coach, put in the backup, she's done. But you know what? She's a pusher. She'll come back next time, and she'll be stronger for being pushed that step too far. She'll come back and we'll see, we'll see exactly what she has to offer, and god help the ones that she left in the dugout because we got off free once, and by hell she won't let it happen again. _


	17. Announcement

Hey-lo all. Just thought that I would drop you a line and let you in on a bit of a secret. I am, within the next twenty minutes, posting a new story entitled Everybody's Villain, the sequel to Not the Hero. I have a class which requires me to do 2 hours of free writing a day, and as such, I will be devoting that time to this story. I know that it has been a while since NTH, but I hope that you still enjoy the story.


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